2: Fallen Heroes
by nurzubesuch
Summary: Three months have passed since Shawn's encounter with Sylar the shapeshifting murderer. And having a few nightmares after this is just normal, right? Sure it WAS a dream that showed him Sylar, escaping custody, with the help of Dr. Suresh. What else could it be? Surely not reality. Cause that would mean that Sylar was still out there, after him. Sequel to "Identity"
1. A Better Life Than Mine

**So here we go for the second story. Glad you came back to see what happens next. So let´s not waste any more time.**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own any of this.**

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><p><strong>A better Life than Mine<strong>

The last sequence ended and showed the earth from high above. A moment later the majestic sight was replaced by blackness and then the music of Linkin Park took over, while the credits were rolling. Shawn hurried to wipe the tears away that had snuck into the corners of his eyes. It was so freaking embarrassing for a guy to cry at the end of an action movie like Transformers. But man, Linkin Park really killed it every time. It was amazing what this band was capable of when they didn´t shout into the microphone for a change.

Well, at least he could blame it on the long hours of watching. This was the official end of his and Jules´ Transformathon, where they´d watched all three films back to back. Of course one would have wet eyes by then. And then he looked over at Jules and he saw that her eyes were wet too. And was that a tissue she had in her hand? Where did that come from? Was she really sniffing?

"I can´t help it." she explained, noticing his look. "It´s just so damn touching. Not just the ending. I mean …"

"You´re absolutely right." he agreed, relieved. "I had a lump in my throat too."

She nodded, blowing her nose and for a moment he just looked at her, wondering how this could be. That he was really sitting here, with her, watching one of the greatest action movies of all time and she didn´t look at him as if he were crazy for liking something like that. That she actually shared his love for those movies and didn´t ask him after it was finished what it had been about. Was that really true or was he only dreaming? Could he really be so lucky?

But she was here. They both were. It just had to be true.

"What?" she asked, startled about his gaze.

"Nothing." he claimed. "I was just wondering."

"About what?"

He looked at her for one more second and then motioned for the TV. "About Megan Fox." he said. "I wondered why she didn´t return for the last movie. That was kinda disturbing. I mean, don´t get me wrong. This new chick was hot and all … but also very smart." he hurried to add. "But it´s a break in the continuity that they exchanged her."

"They broke up." Juliet shrugged, recalling the plot of the movie.

"Yeah, but maybe she got killed during a shooting somewhere between the movies." Shawn offered another possibility.

"You would have liked that better?" Juliet asked, a little shocked. But then she just shook her head, smiling, as if she was talking to a pouting kid. "Shawn. Things like that happen. Sometimes people do break up. Makes it more realistic in my eyes."

"So you say, every couple can break up one day?" he asked, teasingly. But there was something in his voice, and it was asking her genuinely.

Instead of giving an answer she just looked at him, studying his eyes as if she tried to read in them. Eventually she moved closer.

"Shawn." she said. "Are you trying to tell me that you´re afraid of losing me?"

He smirked. "Why no." he claimed. "I´m just discussing movie trivia and plot realism with a fellow Transformers fan. About this Rosie Huntington-Whiteley … she really gave the movie a new face, didn´t she? I mean literally. I mean …"

"I get us something to drink." Juliet said, rolling her eyes.

Shawn watched her go to the kitchen, grinning to himself. He really was one lucky guy.

He lay down on the couch and stretched himself, to let the feeling return to his legs. During the last hour he had barely moved away from his seat, not even to get himself something to eat or to use the bathroom. It was just so riveting to watch this movie. No matter if you already knew it or not, you just couldn´t stand up at the last parts. Now he was lying here, listened to the last tunes of this great music and was once more aware of how lucky he was, to have such a great life.

The music stopped and it was silent in the room. Almost deafeningly silent. Sylar opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. The warm light of Juliet´s living room was gone, replaced by the cold white light of the facility lamps, the soft and comfortable cushions of her couch had become the hard mattress of his prison cell cot.

He was awake. And that could only mean one thing. They were back for another round of Sylar-Dissection. Funny. Not so long ago he´d been the one doing dissections. For a completely different reason but …

The door was opened and before he even had a chance to sit up, someone was beside him. The needle went into the IV at his head and a new dose of the green liquid went into his brain. He gritted his teeth and kept the groan inside. As if there weren´t enough drugs in his system by now.

Rough hands grabbed him and he was dragged up. Yeah, he definitely was awake now. In his dreams he was touched much more gentle. At least the latest dreams he´d had the luck to dream. At least at night he was allowed to have a better life than this one. The life of a human guinea pig. Shawn had been so right when he´d used that term. Not that Sylar hadn´t known that himself.

They dragged him out of his cell, two guards watching them, their guns ready to fire if he should do anything more than breath. Funny, he thought. They just drugged me and they´re still afraid that I´ll go nuts on them. What a joke and a pretty socially critic joke by that.

They reached the lab, where he´d spent the last few weeks of his existence, standing ready for extractions of blood, spinal fluid and other body liquids and sometimes things that were not liquid. The only reason why he wasn´t covered with scars over and over his body was his ability of healing. They didn´t drug him too heavy so his body would be able to stand the tortures they treated him with. How thoughtful they were. He´d always wanted to thank them for that but he just hadn´t gotten around to do so yet. But he would. Some day he would. That was only a matter of politeness.

A door opened and his personal doctor came in.

"Morning, Doc." Sylar greeted with a dizzy smile. "Up for another check-up? The back´s much better but my ankles are still itching. Probably because the weather changed. Of course, I can´t be sure about that. The weather not the ankles."

"Shut up." Mohinder said, approaching with an empty syringe.

The second doctor grabbed his head and bowed it forward. Sylar didn´t struggle. He already knew the procedure. Still he tensed while waiting for the pain to shoot through his spine and when it came, he gritted his teeth to not to scream. Sometimes he won that battle against his voice to express the agonizing sensations, sometimes he didn´t.

Today he almost made it. Almost. Neither Mohinder nor the other guy – Madison, his name was, Sylar believed – seemed to notice his scream. They just released him and went back to their lab table.

Sylar leaned back and tried to steady his breathing. His face was covered in sweat and his heart was pounding. Still he couldn´t help but chuckled.

"You are enjoying this, aren´t you?" he asked Mohinder´s back.

He didn´t get a response. He didn´t expect one.

"Of course you do." he went on talking. "I know that look of satisfaction in your eyes when you torture me. I of all people in the world should know how a man looks when he enjoys the pain of his victim."

Mohinder moved and for a moment, Sylar actually believed that he would turn around to him. But he only handed the substance he´d been working on to Madison. The other doc took it and filled it into his own gadget, to treat it a little more before he´d carry it into the second lab, somewhere at the end of the hallway, where the real deal would happen to it. Sylar had no idea what this was and he didn´t care. He was more interested in his personal Dr. Mengele right now.

"I can´t blame you though." he went on talking to Mohinder. "I killed your cousin after all. Not to forget your sister in law. Your father …"

This time there was a reaction on the doctor´s side. He turned around and looked at him. Sylar smiled when he saw the hate in those dark eyes.

"You shouldn´t tempt me, Sylar." Mohinder said. "Right now your life is in my hands."

"Thank you for the information." Sylar said and pulled at the metal fetters that held him in his chair. "I hadn´t noticed that yet." he shouted.

He settled down again, knowing that it was useless to fight these fetters. Mohinder had already turned away from him again.

"Yes, you do enjoy it." Sylar stated again. "And you know what? That´s good. It´s releasing, isn´t it? To take revenge. To let this dark side come out and play."

"The reason why I´m doing this, is not as low as that." Mohinder said without turning back to him.

"I see." was all Sylar replied to that.

"I´ll be right back, doctor." Madison informed Mohinder and after a brief uncomfortable glance, he walked out, taking the sample of Sylar´s spinal fluid with him. Sylar followed him with his eyes for a moment. He could see the guards that were posted before the lab. Then the door was closed again.

When he looked back at Mohinder, he was surprised to find the Indian scientist looking straight at him.

"I´m not like you." he said.

Sylar smiled. "Oh, you´re not?" he asked.

"No." Mohinder said and all the sudden he held a device in his hand, Sylar´d never seen before. It looked like a remote. Mohinder pushed a button on it and a piercing pain shot through Sylar´s head. It came so suddenly and unexpected that he had no chance of trying to keep his screams contained.

"Hurts pretty bad, doesn´t it?" Mohinder asked, his voice steady and cold. He pushed the button again and the pain stopped. Sylar was panting. What the hell was that?

"That is the electronic version of a tuning fork." Mohinder explained as if he´d read Sylar´s mind. "Much more effective on your nerves than the original. It also disturbs our surveillance system. That means we have exactly ten minutes now."

Sylar looked up at him, startled. "What do you mean we have ten minutes?"

"I´ll make it quick." Mohinder said. "It was your luck that you were captured just in time. How this coincidence occurred is a mystery to me but I have no choice but to take advantage of it. I need your help."

Now Sylar believed that he had to have a hallucination. Had Mohinder knocked him out with something and he was dreaming again? But the pain he still felt pounding in his head seemed to prove the contrary.

"I don´t work for the Company." Mohinder told him. "I let them hire me again to stop them. There is no time to explain my motives to you now. My plan is simple. The Company developed a computer program that can hack into every system. It also has the potential to destroy these systems when planted into them. A virus if you prefer that. It´s here. In the main core of this facility. Over the last three months, I tried to get access to it but I didn´t succeed. It´s too highly secured. I can´t get there. But you could. You could bring me there. I would extract the virus and plant it into the Company´s own system. It would destroy their heart and we could finally bring them down." He held up a syringe, filled with a white liquid. "This drug can disable the Glycimerine we injected you with to suppress your powers. When I give it to you, you will get your powers back, almost instantly. If you help me, I will get my computer virus and you´ll be free."

Sylar couldn´t believe what he just heard. "You would let me go?" he asked sceptically. "Just like this?"

"I wouldn´t have much of a choice." Mohinder replied. "But against what I am fighting here, you are the smallest danger. So yeah. I would let you go." He looked at his watch. "We have three minutes left. What is your answer?"

"How do you know that I won´t kill you after you gave me this drug?" Sylar asked.

"I don´t." Mohinder answered earnest. "But I know that you want to bring down the Company as much as I do. They hunted you. They tortured you."

"So did you." Sylar pointed out, but Mohinder ignored him.

"You want them to pay." he repeated. "I can make this happen. I can plant the virus into their system. Not here. In the main computer that connects everything. I know where it is and I know how to get there. But I can´t do this without your help. I trust you that you´ll cooperate."

"You trust me." Sylar repeated. "Well, that´s interesting."

"Two minutes." Mohinder recalled the time. "What´s your answer?"

The door went open all the sudden and Mohinder let the syringe vanish in the pocket of his lab coat.

"Doctor." Myers, the facility´s director greeted him. Mohinder gave him a nod and watched him look around. "Is something wrong here?" Myers asked.

"No." Mohinder said, frowning. "Why do you ask?" "Our cameras failed all the sudden." Myers explained. "Did something happen in here? Did he do anything?"

"Not as far as I could see." Monhinder said. "He couldn´t anyway. He´s drugged, you know that."

Myers looked at him and then at Sylar, thinking for a moment. Eventually he nodded.

"Better give him a second shot." he said. "Just to be sure."

"Too much of the drug could kill him." Mohinder mentioned but Myers´ eyes were hard.

"Then dose it right." he demanded.

"Of course."

Mohinder took a syringe filled with Glycimerine, and approached Sylar. He carried the syringe in a way that only Sylar could see that he was in fact holding two shots. The Glycimerine and the white liquid, he´d offered him earlier.

"Sylar?" Mohinder asked, obviously waiting for his answer.

Sylar took a breath, gritting his teeth.

"I´m willing to cooperate." he said, at last and Mohinder nodded.

He injected him, with the white substance, not trying to be gentle with the needle. Sylar squinted, and lowered his head. Mohinder and Myers watched him for a while, waiting. But nothing happened.

"He´s half asleep by now." the geneticist explained. "He won´t be any danger, for at least two days. If he doesn´t collapse that is."

"All right." Myers said, nodding once. "Keep an eye on him." With that he turned around and left, no more words.

Mohinder heard a clicking sound and a second after he´d seen the door close behind Myers, he got grabbed by the throat and pushed against the wall, his feet dangling.

"So now …" Sylar said, looking up at him, piercingly. But in this moment Mohinder had already grabbed his arm and twisted it, violently. Sylar hit the ground, groaning when his head bounced off the floor. When his eyes met Mohinder´s again, they were startled. But only for a second. He immediately reached out his hand, pushing him against the wall a second time. With no arm to grab, Mohinder was not that fast getting free again.

"Seems you worked out since we last met, Mohinder." Sylar commented. "Is there anything else I should know?"

Mohinder couldn´t answer. Sylar was holding his throat. The murderer smiled. He reached up to his own head, ripping out the shunt that still stuck there. The wound it left closed itself a few seconds later.

"And now … I´m going to kill you." Sylar stated. "Tell me how you want to stop me."

The answer came instantly. The pain in his head was back, with greater force this time, and Sylar winced, backing away from it. His knees gave in and he sank to the ground, holding his head as if to keep it from exploding. And then the pain stopped. His hands dropped down, to the ground, while his lungs desperately tried to catch some oxygen. His head was so hot as if he had the worst flu that was humanly possible.

When he looked up, Mohinder was standing over him, the remote in one hand, a gun in the other.

"I have a full load of Glycimerine in here." he told him, shaking the gun. "I gave you your powers back but I can also take it again."

Sylar didn´t answer. He was still recovering from that acoustic attack.

"Now come on, Sylar." Mohinder reasoned with him. "We had a deal. I know you want to get to those bastards." And after a brief hesitation: "Bennet told me what you did in Central Park."

Sylar looked up at him. "You work with Bennet?"

"Believe me. There is something way more serious going on here than you can imagine. We want to stop that. I want to stop it. Enough to even cooperate with you. So are you with me or not?"

Sylar gritted his teeth. "I barely have a choice, do I?"

He lowered his head one more time, to take a breath. When his head cleared a little, he finally stood up. Mohinder was still aiming his gun at him, warily. But Sylar only raised his brows.

"Now what?" he asked. "What do you want me to do?"

Mohinder hesitated one more second, before he lowered the gun. He still kept it ready though, just in case Sylar should try something.

"What you can do best." he answered the question. "The room I need to get into, is locked and the way to it is guarded."

"Understand." Sylar nodded. "Well, I guess we should set off then."

Mohinder seemed still wary, but eventually he nodded.

"All right." he said. "There are two guards outside. As soon as we attack them, they´ll know something is going on and they´ll send more after us …"

He got cut off abruptly when Sylar busted the door with a mere motion of his hand. The two guards who came running in, got thrown back, against the wall, only a few seconds later. Mohinder had barely time to flinch, before it was already over. Sylar threw him a glance.

"Then maybe we should hurry." he commented.

The Indian scientist stared at his enemy in shock. Sylar just walked out without another word. The two guards lay on the ground, knocked out, harmless. Two other guards came running down the hall, wielding guns. They flew away as easily as the first two. One of them pulled the trigger, sending a few bullets towards Sylar. He stopped them in the air, just a few feet before they hit him. With a motion of his hand they dropped to the floor. Ahead there were shouts.

"Which way?" he asked Mohinder.

"That way." Mohinder pointed in the other direction.

"Very good." Sylar commented and turned to the fast approaching backup. He raised both hands and brought them back together and all of a sudden there was no way for their pursuers anymore, when the walls of the hallway imitated his gesture, crashing down. Sparks went raining down, when the cables snapped and all around them, the lights went out.

"Man, that feels good." Sylar exhaled, happily.

He turned away from his work and followed Mohinder down the hall. Alarm sirens started to howl and it was pretty clear that they now had officially declared open season on them. They came across a few more guards, but they were probably caught more off guard then _they_ were. No challenge for Sylar´s new gained power.

Eventually they reached an iron door and Mohinder hurried to insert his key-card, praying that it still worked. It did. The door opened with a beep and they hurried in.

"What now?" Sylar asked.

"Just secure this door." Mohinder told him, already rushing to the computer console. "I take care of the rest."

Sylar closed the door. Just before it fell shut, he caught a glimpse of more guards coming down the hallway. As soon as the door was closed, he reached out for the key system and a second later it spat sparks, shutting down. Outside they would have some problems now, using their key-cards.

The knocks he heard after a while, were proof of that. He threw a look at Mohinder but the scientist was busy working his way into the computer system. The next thing Sylar noticed was a movement under the ceiling. A camera. It moved around for a moment, searching, before it got fixed on Mohinder.

Sylar slowly made his way through the room, until he stood in the field of vision of that lens. He had a pretty good guess who was on the monitor on the other side. The lens moved again, zooming in.

Yeah, have a good look, Sylar thought and smiled for them. Then he raised his hand and smashed the camera almost nonchalantly.

"Well, I´d say you better don´t count on an extension of your contract." he told Mohinder.

"I don´t need one." was the dry answer. "All I need is in here."

"Yeah, see that brings me to the next question. How exactly do you plan to bring that thing into this other Company-facility, after putting on an act like that in here? I mean … call me Mr. Negative but I´m pretty sure they have telephone in here."

"I don´t need to go in." Mohinder explained. He took a small disk out of the computer and packed it away. "Someone else will do that for me. Someone from the inside. My assistant is already out to prepare the ground for us."

"Wow, you´re pretty good at this, aren´t you?"

"I had enough time to learn." was all Mohinder said to that cynical comment. He´d safely packed away the precious disk by now. "We should go." he said, just as an explosion blew away the door.

Sylar managed it to reach out his hand, in time to catch and stop it, before it gave the way free for their pursuers. They could hear their shouts on the other side. Sylar shoved the door back into its place, while Mohinder hurried to the other side of the room, opening a ventilation shaft.

"That´s a joke right?" Sylar couldn´t believe what he saw.

"I prepared a car for us." Mohinder explained. "But we need to get to the garage. Don´t worry, it´s not far."

Sylar watched him slip into the shaft and cursed in silence. Maybe next time he should read the small print before he signed the contract. Using the ventilation to get away was just so … classic. He kept holding the door in place until he was at the shaft. He pushed it even further down the hall, to keep the guards busy, long enough to get away.

Fortunately Mohinder had been right about the garage. It really wasn´t far away and they reached the car undisturbed. Kudos to the scientist´s planing. He really must have put a lot of preparation into this. Amazing considering the fact how busy he´d seemed with his tortures on Sylar.

When Sylar reached the car, Mohinder already pulled out and for a moment Sylar expected him to drive away without him. But after he´d turned the car around, he waited for him to get in, just like promised. Or maybe out of pure self preservation, since he had to know that Sylar could have stopped him easily by flipping the car around.

No matter what the reason was, they both sat in the car and the car was heading for the gate. The gate was closed of course. But all Sylar had to do to change that, was holding his hand out of the window. Outside they immediately came under fire again. Sylar kept the bullets away while Mohinder raced over the pavement and at the gate like a madman. He didn´t even slow down when the gate was only a few inches away. Sylar shot his hand forward and crashed the gate open, an inch before the hood of the car crashed into it. Holy Cannoli. Mohinder still didn´t take the foot off the accelerator.

"But you planned to survive that, right?" Sylar asked him.

He got no answer. Behind them the Company was still trying to organize the manhunt for them. They wouldn´t need very long though. In this regard it was a good idea to really stump on the accelerator. Sylar just hoped that Mohinder had learned to drive during his time as a cab driver. Not that he needed to worry about his life. But if the car crashed, he really would have to take a taxi and the way he looked right now not even a New Yorker taxi would take him for a ride.

He settled down in his seat a little, while Mohinder drove the car down the street. So far there were no Company cars behind them. But that would change very soon. Mohinder steered the car into the heavy traffic so they would get lost in the crowd. Also a trick that wouldn´t last very long. They would have to leave the city as soon as possible.

Sylar sighed. He threw a glance into the side mirror … and froze. It was the face of Shawn Spencer that looked back at him. The cell phone on his nightstand started to ring and dragged him violently out of his sleep. Shawn jumped up, his heart pounding and his head spinning. Dammit, what had that been? Was it a dream? He surely was not in a car, so it had to be that way.

He looked around to orientate himself, touched his blanket and himself to make sure he was the one he usually was when he was awake. He relaxed when he found his face where it had to be and how he remembered it. Man, what a nightmare.

Finally he remembered his cell and hurried to answer it.

"Shawn." Gus cried into his ear. "Why are you not answering?"

"Sorry, dude." Shawn replied, still sleepy. "You woke me up."

"It´s half past nine." Gus informed him startled.

"It is?" Shawn asked and threw a look at his alarm clock. It truly said nine thirty-two. Wow. That was late, even for him. "I´m sorry." he said, still trying to collect his thoughts. "I just … I went to bed very late yesterday."

"Well, I hope you slept enough." Gus replied. "The chief called me because she couldn´t reach you. She has a case for us."

Shawn swallowed to get rid of the sleepy taste he had in his mouth and nodded.

"Don´t worry." he said. "I´m coming. In fact I´m … I´m on my way." With that he hung up and struggled to get out of his bed.


	2. Easier To Run

**Easier to Run**

Shawn raised his hand, waving when he spotted Gus´ blue car in the traffic. His friend pulled over and stopped to let him in. Shawn had to use the doorhandle twice before it obeyed his grip. When the door was finally open he literally dropped into the seat.

"Dude." Gus said, giving him the once over. "You look awful."

"Thanks, dude." Shawn replied. "Exactly what I wanted to hear."

"I meant you look tired out. I thought you slept until now."

"Yeah, but it feels as if I haven´t slept at all." Shawn admitted and tried to stretch his tensed torso. "I don´t know. Feels as if I performed a prison break tonight."

Gus threw him a startled glance. "Why would you compare it with something like that from all in the world?" he asked.

Shawn looked out at the street and shook his head, but Gus´ stare was intense. He just wouldn´t let go of the question.

"I had a bad dream." Shawn told him at last.

"Was it about Sylar?" Gus immediately guessed, catching Shawn off guard.

"How do you know?" he cried.

"I too still dream of him from time to time." Gus explained. "We all do."

"Well, yeah." Shawn said. He was about to say some more but decided against it. He didn´t want to talk about it. What for? "So what´s this case about?" he asked instead.

"A double murder." Gus informed him. "The chief said it looks like a crime of passion. You know, he cheating on his wife, she teaching him not to the hard way."

He parked the car in front of a house, that was surrounded by the familiar yellow crime scene tape.

"If they already know that, what do they need us for?" Shawn wondered, getting out of the car.

"The dead guy is working for a technology enterprise who delivers for the government." Gus explained while they headed for the front door of this new crime scene. "The chief just wants to make sure, that nothing is overlooked."

"Dude." Shawn now cheered. "Did she say anything of potential spy activities?"

"That´s very unlikely, Shawn." the voice of Juliet O´Hara answered the question before Gus had a chance to do so. She was standing in the door of the house, a notepad in her hand. Shawn´s face lit up when he saw her.

"Jules." he greeted, smiling. "Sun of my life. Say something that makes my day."

"All right." she looked down on her notepad. "Two dead bodies. One male, one female. Both of them shot. So far it looks like a crime of passion."

"Not what I had in mind." Shawn commented with a side glance at Gus.

"Lassiter´s first suspect is the wife." Juliet went on. "And I agree with him."

"Well, maybe I can divine some more for you in there." Shawn said and raised his hand. The second his finger touched his temple, he felt tired and had to close his eyes for a second.

"Is everything all right?" Juliet asked, frowning. "Sure." he claimed.

"He didn´t sleep very well." Gus explained.

"I never sleep well without you." Shawn hurried to turn the worried talk into a joke. It worked. Juliet smiled, sheepishly, but didn´t give a response. She didn´t get a chance anyway. From behind her there came the loud voice of her partner.

"Spencer!" Lassiter called. "Are you going to do some work here, or are you just here for some sweet talk? If that is so you may leave again."

"Au contraire, my dear detective." Shawn replied, entering the house. "I was just about to get started. On the way to save the day."

Lassiter just shook his head and turned around. "If you can tell me where I find the wife, go ahead." he said. "Otherwise we have everything well covered without you."

"Well, we´ll see." Shawn said.

"No, we won´t." Lassiter objected. "It´s the simplest case one could ask for. The guy cheated on his wife and she killed him and his mistress while they were meeting."

"He met with his girlfriend in his own house?" Shawn asked. "Man, that is pretty much asking for his wife to find out."

"Yeah, well. People act stupid." Lassiter said. "You should know."

"Touché. But I´m afraid you´re wrong anyway."

"Ah, yeah? How so?"

"Because there is more to that case than just a simple jealous wife."

Lassiter snorted. "A jealous wife is never simple." he stated. "Always accusing and whining `You spend more time with your job than with me!´ and when you do what she wants for a change she just …" In this moment he realized, how Shawn and the others were looking at him. "I meant …" he cleared his throat. "How do _you_ want to know?"

Shawn smirked and raised his hand to his temple, getting ready to tell Lassiter how wrong he was. But in this moment he just couldn´t remember what he´d wanted to say. What had been his clue again? Or … had there even been one? He hadn´t even looked around so much.

"Now what?" Lassiter demanded, crossing his arms. "What makes you think that there is more to this case?"

Shawn hesitated. "I … I don´t know." he finally admitted.

Lassiter´s first reaction was to make a face, as if to ask `what the hell, Spencer?´ But then he saw the confusion in Shawn´s face and frowned.

"I can´t tell you what exactly is off about this case." Shawn went on, trying to find his balance again. He was sure he would find the clue again, if he could just stall a little. "My psychic Juju is a little vague today."

"He didn´t sleep well." Gus blurred out once again and made Shawn curse in silence.

"But I sense that there is more behind the case." he insisted, still trying to save his dignity.

"All right." Lassiter said. "What?"

In this moment Shawn finally spotted it. The clue he´d been hoping for. Only that it was less than a clue and more like a hunch. Nothing he could present Lassie as anything right now. Not before he´d checked it out himself. It could as well turn out to be nothing.

"I´m not sure yet." he said therefore. "But I´ll tell you as soon as I know."

"And when will that be?"

"After I got a coffee." Shawn replied. "And … maybe some chocolate cookies? Gus?"

"You know that´s right." his friend agreed.

Lassiter just rolled his eyes. "Knock yourself out." he said. "But I´ll go for the wife. O´Hara. Initiate a manhunt for her."

"Strange." Shawn commented. "A manhunt for a woman? That … somehow sounds … odd, doesn´t it?"

"You may leave this crime scene." Lassiter informed him.

Shawn waved for him, smiling widely as he walked out with Gus at his side.

"Dude." he whispered at him. "We need to check out this rich guy. What´s his name? Eddy? Freddy? Something."

"Frederic Roth?" Gus asked startled.

"Right."

"Why that?"

Shawn was about to answer, when Juliet called his name and made them stop. "Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked him.

Shawn exchanged a glance with Gus. "I wait in the car." his friend said, leaving them alone.

"What can I do for you?" Shawn asked, but this time she wouldn´t go along with his wit. She looked at him with worried eyes.

"Shawn, are you feeling all right?"

"Sure." he claimed. "Why shouldn´t I?"

"Don´t play with me." she demanded. "I know when something troubles you. Tell me."

He sighed. "It´s nothing. Just … a bad dream, that´s all."

She nodded. "Yeah, about Sylar. Gus told me."

"Wha …? Then why do you ask, when you already know?" he cried.

"I wanted you to tell me on your own." she said. "Shawn. It´s no shame to have those dreams. I used to dream of him every night after what happened. In some of these dreams I saw him kill you. In others he killed me. But I got over it. And so will you."

"I dreamed that I was him." he told her, not exactly sure why all the sudden. "And that he escaped. I mean, I escaped. I mean …"

For a moment, her comforting gaze was gone and she looked just pale. "Do you think …?" she stuttered. "You think it could be a vision? That he really escaped?"

"No." he immediately cried, chuckling nervously. "God, no. That´s not what I wanted to say. I just …"

"But you _had_ psychic dreams." she recalled.

"Yeah, but … I know how it feels when a dream is supposed to be a vision and when it´s just a dream. Believe me. This one was just a dream. It only proves that I shouldn´t eat cold pizza before going to bed." "Are you sure?" she asked, uncertain.

"Absolutely. Don´t worry about it. Sylar is safely locked away from daylight just like Hannibal Lecter. Only that he won´t escape."

Juliet nodded and he quickly kissed her. He just wanted to end this talk and go back to his normal life. "I see you later at the station." he told her and she nodded. Her gaze was still thoughtful when he left, to join Gus in the car.

"Everything all right?" his friend asked.

"Dude, I wish people would stop asking me that. It´s not the first time I had a bad dream."

"I know." Gus said, reluctantly dismissing the subject. "So why do we have to check out Frederic Roth again?"

"Ah, yeah." Shawn remembered. "There was a picture of him in the living room, how he shakes hands with our dead guy."

"And? Frederic Roth supports a lot of organizations and enterprises like his. It was probably a ceremony where Roth shook a lot of hands."

"Yeah, probably." Shawn agreed, looking out of the window absent minded.

"You want to check it out anyway?" Gus asked him.

"Yeah." was the sleepy answer. "Just to make sure. If you´re right, then Lassie is probably right too. Wouldn´t be the worst that could happen. I really don´t feel like investigating right now."

"Dude, now I´m sure that you´re sick."

"No." Shawn denied weakly and suppressed a yawn. "Only sleep deprived. Know what? I think I´ll close my eyes for a few minutes while we drive."

"Okay." Gus agreed and entered the gear. "You seem to need it."

**...**

It was dark outside. He´d killed the engine a while ago. So far the only sound audible was the ticking of the cooling car. And the excited breathing of his girlfriend in the passenger seat. She was probably wondering why they´d stopped here. Or why he didn´t try to make a move on her. But he didn´t bother to explain himself to her. She was not the reason why he was here. The reason why he was here, was still on the way. But he would be here any time now.

"Maybe we should go on." the girl suggested, obviously feeling uncomfortable.

He just smiled and didn´t say anything. Instead he looked in the mirror. Soon, he thought. Just a few more minutes. He knew the cops were coming. Of course he knew it. He could feel him coming closer. And then finally he saw the headlights approaching. It was about time. The old man was getting slower every year, hm?

"Someone´s coming." the girl exhaled and looked around. "We should go."

"Don´t worry." was all he said.

He didn´t even think about starting the engine again. He´d come here to do this and he would go through with it. Her pathetic whining was annoying but he could stand it. It would be over very soon anyway. The cop got out of his car now, carefully approaching them. He was holding his flashlight up instead of his gun. Stupid. As always.

"He´s coming." the girl whispered, trying to make him drive away. He didn´t move.

The door got torn open and the light shone inside. The girl gasped while he was just smiling. "Whoops." was all he said, not even looking at the cop.

The old man looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Whoops." he echoed.

"It´s my neighbor´s car." the girl hurried to explain. "We were going to put it back. It was just a dare."

God, how pathetic she was. She really still thought that she was the reason why he´d done this.

"Is there a problem here, officer?" he asked, a mischievous smile on his lips.

"You wanted my attention, Shawn." the cop said. "You got it, buddy."

"Wait." the girl said startled. "You guys know each other?"

"Yeah, he´s sort of my dad." Shawn told her, giving her a look that was full of dismissing amusement. She had fulfilled her part in this act. Now it was time for act two.

Of course his father would let her go with just a slap on the wrist. He was the one he wanted to teach a lesson. But that was okay. That was exactly what he was counting on. Act two was on the way.

They reached the police station and his father led him in. Handcuffed of course, as if he was afraid he could try to run. That was the treatment he got after eighteen years of playing father and son.

"I´m afraid I´m gonna have to ask for that „World´s Greatest Dad" mug back." he said teasingly while they walked in.

"You just keep talking, Shawn." the old man replied.

"You keep talking." Shawn replied right back.

"Don´t worry, I will." Henry promised. "Like when I read you your rights."

"Oh, I have rights. That´ll be new and fun." Shawn said, smirking provokingly.

Their walk came to a sudden stop when his father grabbed his arms, making him face him. "What am I gonna tell your mother?" he asked him.

Now finally there was the cue Shawn had been waiting for, to start with act two. "I don´t know." he said. "You think you can get hold of her new phone number?"

His father´s face was stern as always, but Shawn just knew he had hit the mark. He could feel it. He knew what made his father tick. It was as if he could hear it work behind his forehead. As if he heard a clock ticking.

"I hope it was worth it, smart-ass." Henry said, his voice low. "This officially ends your chance of being a cop."

"Let´s be honest." Shawn replied, preparing for the last hit. And this time he would hit him where it really hurt. He said: "I gave up wanting to be like you a long time ago."

The reaction was almost better than he had expected. "That´s it." Henry yelled. "Somebody book him. You, beanpole!" he addressed a young officer, standing nearby. "Get over here. Fingerprint him now."

The rookie, completely startled by the fact that he´d been addressed in the first place, straightened and looked around for a moment. "Oh, I´m … I´m sorry." he stuttered. "Me?"

"Never mind, rookie." Henry grumbled, his mood getting worse. "I´ll do it myself." He grabbed Shawn´s arm again and dragged him along. Oh, yeah, act two was fully started by now.

"You still can´t let go, can you?" Shawn asked him, now grinning almost from ear to ear.

"_I_ can´t let go?" Henry yelled and swirled him around again to look into his face. "_You_ are the one who can´t stop fooling around. I tried to make something out of you, so you could use this gift that you have for something important. And what are you doing? You throw it away."

"Maybe I will use my so called gift for something else." Shawn said. "You´re not the only one who can decide what is important."

"You think you know what´s important?" Henry snorted. "You can´t even fulfill the simplest responsibilities."

Now Shawn´s smile faded. "Stop that." he demanded.

"Oh, I´m just getting started." Henry replied. "You could have been something, Shawn. You had the potential to be something special."

"Stop it."

"Now look at you. You are a disappointment from top till bottom."

"I said stop it!" Shawn yelled. Behind Henry another rookie reached over her desk for some big scissors.

"You are not the son I tried to raise." Henry shouted at Shawn and finally made him snap.

He jumped forward and punched his father in the face, with both of his cuffed fists and Henry stumbled backwards, his eyes wide with surprise. When he saw Shawn coming after him, he reached for the rookie, grabbing the scissors and pointed it at Shawn, to make him stop. But Shawn grabbed the scissors, started to struggle. Their hands that fought over the scissors went down, between them. And then all the sudden Henry flinched. He looked up at his son in shock.

The young officer screamed when she saw Shawn´s hand covered with blood. Henry´s blood. The big scissors stuck in his chest right where the heart was located. Shawn could only stand there and stare at his father wide eyed. No, that was not the way it was supposed to happen. How could this happen?

All around him, people started to shout and talk over each other, heatedly. The room started to spin around him. He could only see his father´s eyes, fixed on him, while he slowly broke down to the ground. The accusation in his eyes was cutting deeply. Almost as deep as the scissors had cut in his chest.

"You are a monster, Shawn." he said and his teeth were bloody. "A … A monster. Shawn. n. Shhhhaaaaawwwwnnnn."

"Sylar!" someone shouted. A door fell shut so loud that he thought it had been crashed against his skull. His eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright. What happened?

He looked around. He was in a small room, in which the only furniture was an old rusty bed and a tiny nightstand. He was sitting on a squeaking chair in front of the window, his elbow still on the sill. Mohinder stood by the door, eavesdropping for sounds from outside. His eyes were haunted.

"Get up. We need to go." he urged and then seemed to notice for the first time the confusion in Sylar´s face. "Don´t tell me you fell asleep." he said in disbelieve.

Sylar looked around one more time and his brain switched back into gear. "What´s going on?" he asked, getting up.

"They found us." Mohinder told him, making his way into the bathroom. "We need to sneak out through the back."

Sylar threw a glance out of the window but couldn´t see anyone – yet. "What happened?" he asked.

"I was out front." Mohinder´s voice came from the bathroom, followed by the sound of a window being opened. "I believe I could shake them for the moment, but they saw me. We´ve got to hurry."

Sylar followed him into the bathroom and found him already halfway outside. "How could you let this happen?" he hissed at him.

"Me?" Mohinder replied. "You were the one who fell asleep on your watch."

"That must be the drugs you gave me." Sylar defended himself, climbing out of the window after him.

"I only gave you the formular to restore your strength."

"Well, obviously it was the wrong dosage."

"Don´t you tell me how to dose a medication. You would be dead by now if I wouldn´t know how to do that."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Thanks for that. You took so good care of me. I´m sure my condition has nothing to do with the treatment I got from you over these last three months."

"You have no right to complain." Mohinder hissed back at him. By now they both were ducked under the window, whispering at each other. "After all that you did to other people, I call that poetic justice."

Inside they heard the door to their room getting busted.

"Maybe we should delay this clarifying conversation until we have a little more time." Sylar suggested and then they just ran.

They rounded the building and came to the parking lot. Sylar headed for the first car that was reachable, unlocked it with a simple motion of his hand and jumped in. The engine came to life almost instantly.

"Get in." he shouted at Mohinder when the scientist hesitated.

Someone shouted behind them and then there were shots ringing out. Mohinder swirled around and flinched when he realized that they´d been shooting at him. A moment later he wondered why he wasn´t hit. When he looked back, he saw five bullets standing in the air before him. He threw a look over his shoulder and saw Sylar, hand stretched out. A moment later the murderer spread his fingers a second time and sent the bullets back, at the men who´d shot them.

Mohinder stared at the result wide eyed. One of the men got a bullet through his head and was killed instantly. The second one got only hit in the shoulder, twice, and was thrown to the ground.

"Get in the car!" Sylar shouted again and finally Mohinder moved.

He could see the wounded agent getting up again. He was holding his arm but he seemed to be tough enough to keep going. And he did. He headed for a black car that was parked in front of the motel. Sylar turned their own new gained car around and then stopped. Instead of driving away, he reached out his hand. Mohinder guessed what he was doing just a moment before it happened. The black car and the agent that was about to enter it, went off in a bright fireball.

"What are you doing?" the scientist shouted.

"Calm down." Sylar replied, annoyed over his behavior and drove off.

"That wasn´t necessary." Mohinder argued when they were on the street.

"Yes, it was." Sylar insisted, giving him a look. "You would have preferred a car chase?" When he got no response he lay his head askew. "Face it, Mohinder." he said. "That´s the reason why you took me with you. Because you knew I could do these things. Don´t complain now, that I´m actually doing it." He looked ahead at the street again. When he got no response from Mohinder whatsoever he asked: "Did you at least get what you went out for?"

"What?"

"Dude." Sylar was slowly loosing his patience. "The reason why you went out, remember?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Shawn? I didn´t get out yet. We just came here. Shawn! Are you listening to me?"

Shawn opened his eyes with a loud gasp. His heart was thudding in his chest. He looked around and found himself sitting in the car, just where he´d fallen asleep. Gus was sitting right next to him, looking at him as if he were totally crazy. And who knew. Maybe he was. Damn, what the hell was happening to him?


	3. Total Confusion

**Total Confusion**

The office was as big as the name of its inhabitant. So many things were in here, things that usually would be taken in within a few minutes of casually looking around. But right now Shawn was absolutely in no condition to observe accurately. Not that he couldn´t have done it. Quite the contrary. His perception seemed to work overtime and he felt as if he couldn´t focus on one thing at the time.

It was as if all the details that were in his field of vision were fighting for his attention. Total sensory overload. It wasn´t loud in here but he felt as if he was close to getting a headache. The concerned glances Gus kept throwing at him, didn´t help him either.

"Juri and I were friends." Roth told them now. He had been very cooperative since they´d arrived and asked if they could talk to him about the dead guy, Juri Takolov. "When I heard what had happened …" Roth shook his head. "It was a shock."

Shawn nodded, still trying to focus on that man that was talking to him. He was about fifty and not a lightweight. He was wearing a fine suit and tie but he somehow managed it to let it look casual. He also had a tie-pin that looked suspiciously like covered with real diamonds. Could this guy have any more money?

"Especially since I´m afraid that I am the reason why he is dead." Roth said now.

What? Now that was something unexpected. Shawn stared at this man before him, shaking his head.

"How so?" he asked, when he couldn´t think of any better question.

"I knew about his affair." Roth explained, still shaking his head in denial. "I talked to him on the phone about it. Maria heard what I said to him. That´s how she found out. I tried to talk to her of course, but she … she asked me not to tell him that she knew. She wanted to work it out with him on her own. That´s what she said to me. I … I had no idea that she meant killing him and the other woman. How could I have known …? I mean … I knew her for so long and I never figured her to be able to do something like that. God, I should have said something. If I had, maybe Juri would still be alive."

Shawn tried to take all these things in and bring them in an order. But his head was still doing its own thing. There were still too many things spinning around in there.

"It wasn´t your fault, Mr. Roth." Gus said, helping him out. "You only tried to be a good friend." He threw a checking glance at Shawn, who couldn´t do anything but nod in agreement. Right now he only wanted to get out and drink one or two liters of water to clear his head, maybe wash all these disturbing sensations out.

"You don´t happen to know where the police can find Maria?" Gus asked Roth.

"No." Roth answered. "I´m afraid I don´t know her as good as I thought. But if I should hear anything from her, I of course will inform the police."

"Thank you, Mr. Roth." Gus said. "We´re very sorry about your friend. Good day." He lay a hand on Shawn´s elbow and directed him to the door as nonchalantly as he could. "Shawn, are you feeling all right?" he asked when they were outside. "Shall I take you to a doctor?"

"No." Shawn said. "Just bring me out of here. I need some water."

"All right." Gus exhaled and hurried to get them back to his car. As soon as they were in there and Shawn had swallowed a half liter bottle of water, he seemed to settle down a little. He had his eyes closed but his breathing steadied.

"What´s the matter?" Gus asked concerned. "Are you getting sick or something?"

"I wish it would be that easy, dude." Shawn replied.

"What do you mean?"

Shawn chuckled nervously. "I´m afraid I´m losing my mind a little." he said.

"Well, nothing new about that so far." Gus tried to joke. Shawn smiled.

"I appreciate that." he said. "But seriously. Recently I have these completely weird dreams. About Sylar. Not the way you and Jules used to dream about him." he immediately explained. "In my dreams … I am Sylar. Last night I dreamed that he escaped from his prison. And just now before you woke me up … I´m not sure. It was as if it was a sequel to that first dream. He was on the run."

For a while they sat there in silence. "Maybe you´re still freaked out about what he said to you when you visited him." Gus suggested a possibility.

"That was three months ago." Shawn recalled.

Gus only shrugged. "Sometimes things need time to settle down. Maybe it finally reached your subconsciousness." He thought about this for a moment and then said: "Maybe you should talk to someone."

"Someone?"

"A psychologist." Gus spoke it out. "Juliet talked to one when she had those dreams. Even Lassie did."

"Really?" Shawn was baffled about that. "How do you know?"

"I saw him coming out of the room where the department´s psychologist holds his sessions." Gus explained. "I pretended that I didn´t see him though. You know, to respect his privacy."

Shawn nodded, understanding.

"You should think about it, Shawn." Gus emphasized. "Sometimes it helps to talk to someone about these things."

"I thought I just did."

"To someone that wasn´t involved." Gus rephrased it.

"Sorry, dude." Shawn shook his head. "But telling something like that to some random dude that I don´t know … No. Don´t worry, I can handle that."

"Are you sure? Because you don´t look good, Shawn."

"That´s just the exhaustion. A night full of sleep and I´ll be back on top, you´ll see."

"I hope so." Gus said.

He knew it was useless to try to keep the subject up. His friend had closed his mind about it and he wouldn´t open up if he pushed now. So he just started the car and drove off, hoping that Shawn was right. That all this was really just a question about sleep deprivation that would solve itself. He really hoped so.

**...**

Juliet sat on her computer. She knew she shouldn´t do this. Not behind his back and not while she was on duty and should actually work on another case. But this was just something she had to know. And she would tell him later, so it wasn´t really doing it behind his back. Checking the FBI-database was also not completely far off from work. Carlton did this all the time. So it wasn´t misusing work-time either. Not really. So far she hadn´t found anything about a new wanted order because of a recently escaped top-ten criminal.

She sat back in her chair and sighed. Maybe Shawn had been right. Maybe it really had been just the pizza. And what was so uncommon about a bad dream? After what they´d experienced, it would have worried her if he didn´t have some. He was late enough to have them. Maybe he really had just needed longer than all of them. Shawn was different after all. He was psychic. Who knew how his mind really worked.

But that was exactly the point, wasn´t it? Juliet cursed in silence and reached for the phone. Just one call and she would drop it, but she had to make sure. She might not know where exactly the FBI had locked away Sylar, but this Dr. Suresh had given Shawn his number in case any of them should show symptoms as he´d called it. Shawn had told her that after Sylar´s warning he´d claimed to these people not to be psychic. He´d tried to explain to her why he´d trusted this murderer on this and she had tried to understand. Partly she had, partly not. She could understand that he wanted to protect her – all of them – and that was all she needed to understand. But now she needed to know if Sylar was still locked away safely. She took the small card out of her pocket and dialed Suresh´s number.

She got an answer after four rings. "Hello?" Was that Suresh? She´d never spoken to him.

"Dr. Suresh?" she asked.

"Dr. Suresh is busy and not available at the moment. I´m his lab assistant. Who am I talking to?"

"This is detective O´Hara from the Santa Barbara Police." Juliet introduced herself. "I … I just called to ask you …" she hesitated. What exactly did she want to say? Did a shapeshifter recently escape from your secret prison? Not the best idea. "I was part of the team that helped arresting the criminal Sylar three months ago." she started a try. "I … just wanted to give a call inbetween to ask if everything is going all right on your side. Any problems?"

"Sure everything is all right." the young man said. "Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason." Juliet hurried to explain. "It´s just … it´s sort of customary here, to check on the old cases once in a while. So everything is all right?"

"Everything is fine." the young assistant assured her. "Sylar is even cooperating with our research. Call him a model prisoner."

"Great." Juliet exclaimed. "Glad to hear that."

"You want to leave a message for Dr. Suresh?" the assistant offered kindly.

"Ehm, yeah. Sure. Tell him he shall call me back as soon as he has the time."

"Does he have your number?" the man asked her.

"No." Juliet said and gave him the number of her work phone. She thanked the young scientist and hung up. Well, that was easy. Now she knew for sure that Shawn had been right. Not that she´d doubted that. But she felt a whole lot better now that she knew it for sure.

"O´Hara." Lassiter´s voice cut through her thoughts, making her flinch. "I just talked to the employee of the wife." he walked over to her. "He says they sent Maria Takolov to a conference in San Francisco two days ago."

Juliet settled down for a second to switch her mind back to work. "That means she has an alibi for the time of the murder." she realized.

"Only if she was really there." Lassiter replied. "We need to contact the administrators of this conference. Ask them if she ever showed up."

"On it." Juliet nodded and was already in the process of reaching for the phone.

"What´s the matter?" Carlton asked her, out of the blue, and she halted.

"Nothing." she lied but obviously more than just bad. "It´s … just what Shawn said this morning. About this dream he had. He dreamed that Sylar escaped from his prison to come back, after us."

Lassiter didn´t say anything to comment that, he just kept looking at her, waiting for her to go on.

"I called them just now." Juliet told him. "This Dr. Suresh gave Shawn his number. They say everything is fine over there. Wherever that is."

"So?" Lassiter asked.

Juliet just shook her head, shrugged. "I guess he just caught up with all of us after all." she said. "You know … what I mean."

Lassiter just nodded. He turned to walk away, but then hesitated. "You still dream of it?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"Fortunately not." was her answer. "Three weeks without it." she added and raised her fist in a mocking victory. He gave her a smile and hers faded, just a little. "You?" she asked him back.

Lassiter cleared his throat and straightened a little. "No." he said, turning around again. "You have a call to make. Find out if this woman was at the conference as she was supposed to be. If she was gone only for one lunch break, her alibi doesn´t hold water, understand?"

With that he was walking back to his desk, all business again. At least until O´Hara´s smiling face was hidden behind the screen of his computer. There he allowed himself to settle for a moment, frowning deeply over what they´d just talked about. He´d felt a field of goosebumps running over his back during that talk that slowly went away again. He just hoped she hadn´t noticed it. Dammit. He hated it when past cases did this to him. Especially when they haunted him in his dreams. This one had been by far the worst he´d ever had. It was the first one, he´d ever needed the department´s shrinker for, to deal with it. No wonder after he´d been forced to shoot a suspect that looked exactly like his partner.

He buried his face in his hands for a moment and let out a deep sigh. A second later he was startled out of it by O´Hara´s voice, who´d suddenly appeared right in front of him.

"I talked to the administrator of the conference." she just told him. When she noticed his flinching, she frowned. "Are you all right, Carlton?"

He looked at his computer for a moment. How long had he been sitting here? "Sure, I´m all right." he claimed. "What do you have?"

"Ehm … the administrator said, Maria Takolov _was_ at the conference. From the beginning. She has an alibi for the time of the murder."

"Dammit." Lassiter cursed, thinking this over for a moment. "The murder happened at night. She could have driven back here for that and returned to the conference the next day." he mused.

O´Hara gave him a considering face, when a cell phone started to ring next to her. They both looked at their own until they realized it was coming from the evidence boy. The cell phone of the victim, bagged in plastic, had started to ring. The two detectives exchanged a glance.

"That´s the phone of the girlfriend." Juliet pointed out.

"You answer it." Carlton decided and handed the cell to her, plastic bag and all.

Juliet wrapped the bag around the phone, to have a better hold of it, and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Sasha, it´s me." a male voice told her. "I need to see you. Can you talk freely?"

Juliet hesitated. Then she said: "This is detective Juliet O´Hara, S.B.P.D. May I ask who I am speaking to?"

The next thing she heard was a stunned silence and then the sound of the other one hanging up.

"What did he say?" Lassiter asked.

Juliet told him, checking the display. "No number." she found. "Must have been a pre-payed cell phone."

"And he didn´t say his name?"

"No. He had some sort of an accent." she said.

"A Russian accent?"

"I´m not sure. It didn´t sound Russian."

"But you´re not sure."

"Carlton, where are you going with this?" Juliet frowned.

"Maybe Spencer wasn´t so wrong after all." Lassiter mused excited. "Maybe there is more behind this jealousy thing than I initially thought. Maybe it wasn´t the wife who was jealous. Maybe it was the boyfriend."

"The boyfriend?"

"Sure. Who says that _he_ was the only one who cheated on someone with this affair? You have no idea how bad these Russians react when their girlfriends are cheating on them. It´s not pretty."

"Absolutely right, Lassie." the voice of Shawn Spencer chipped into their talk. "But in this case you are absolutely wrong. The wife did it."

"Spencer, what the hell?"

Shawn raised his hand to his temple. "The spirits talked to me after I left the crime scene." he claimed and Lassiter closed his eyes, exasperated. "They led me directly to a man named Fridolin Rossi."

"Frederic Roth." Gus corrected.

"What he says." Shawn affirmed.

"What has Frederic Roth to do with our murder case?" Lassiter demanded to know.

"He was friends with the married couple." Shawn explained. "He knew about the affair and he told us how Maria found out about it. She practically announced what she would do to him before she did it."

"He knew that she wanted to kill them?" Juliet exclaimed. "Not exactly."

"She said she wanted to work it out with her husband." Gus quoted what they´d learned from the milliardaire. "He thought she meant talking to him."

"And instead …" Shawn finished his sentence by dramatically imitating the motion of shooting someone in slow motion. "Asta la vista, baby."

"But we just learned that Maria Takolov was at a conference in San Francisco when the murder happened." Juliet told them.

"She was?" Shawn exclaimed.

"I just got off the phone with the manager."

"You did?"

"And …" Lassiter raised the bagged cell phone. "We just got a call from a second suspect. The boyfriend of the dead woman. This guy did probably sneak after her to catch her in the act with her lover to shoot them both in the head. Execution style. Typical for the Russian maffia, I´ve read a dozen files about cases like that."

"That doesn´t make any sense." Shawn said. "If her boyfriend was the one who killed her, why should he call her on her cell phone a day later?" Lassiter was about to say something when he realized the mistake in his thinking.

"Lassie, what do I have to do to convince you, that you were right from the beginning?" Shawn cried. "You´re never satisfied, are you?"

"All right, if the wife did it, how do you explain that she was seen at the conference all the time?"

"She could have come here at night." Shawn shrugged.

"See, that´s the same thing you said before." Juliet supported him.

"He did?" Shawn asked with a smirk.

"That we start to have the same thoughts is kinda freaking me out." Lassiter grumbled.

"Don´t worry, Lassie." Shawn said raising his hand to his temple again. "I will find this woman for you and I will make her confess."

"Thanks, Spencer, but no thanks." Lassiter said already reaching for the phone again. "I appreciate that you support my theory but from here I can handle that on my own."

"I´m proud of you, Lassie." Shawn said, causing another rolling of the detective´s eyes. "You do that. And I´ll go home now and take a nap. To regenerate my psychic Juju so it will be fully functional when we need it."

"Best idea you ever had, Spencer." Lassiter commented while he dialed and waited for the connection.

Shawn just grinned and turned around to leave. Before he could go though, Juliet caught up with him.

"Shawn." she called. "Just a second. I need to tell you something."

Shawn tensed. Should he be worried now?

"I … know you told me not to worry but I … well, I called this Dr. Suresh to ask if Sylar was still there. In his cell, I mean."

"And?" Shawn asked.

"Oh, my god." Gus exhaled. "He escaped, didn´t he? He´s on his way here to take revenge."

"Dude." Shawn cried and almost the same time Juliet hurried to say: "No. No, he´s still there. They said everything is fine."

"See, Gus." Shawn pointed out, trying not to let show how relieved he was.

Juliet looked at him apologetic. "Sorry, that I did this behind your back." she said. "But I needed to be sure."

Shawn just smiled and took her hands in his. "That´s all right." he said. "It´s even better this way. Because now that I know that, I´ll sleep much better."


	4. From Past To Present

**From Past to Present**

Shawn tried to stop. He didn´t want to enter that room, but his mom just dragged him behind until they reached the couch.

"Sit." she demanded and when he sat, she asked him: "What happened? Don´t mince words."

"With dad?" he asked, grinning. "Mom, we were both there. You know. We don´t need to revisit the past."

"Maybe we do." she insisted.

"Well, I´m not sure if I wanna forgive him for what happened." Shawn said.

"The divorce?"

"It wasn´t what happened, mom. It was the way that it happened." Shawn exhaled, now feeling the anger again, not able to stop it from forming the words in his mouth. "I mean let´s call it what it was." he said leaning forward. "He left us. He left you. He ended up with the house and he left YOU by yourself to pick up the pieces. That´s not exactly what I call hero material, you know?"

She just sat there and looked at him with sad eyes. "Shawn." she said. "_I_ left _him_."

For a moment he tried to, but he just couldn´t laugh at this. "Come on, mom." he said, rubbing his eyes. "You don´t have to spin this for me, okay?"

"Let me be clear." she said, getting up in deep thought. "Your father was wonderful to me." she told him. "He wanted to keep going to counseling. He kept saying we could make it, but the writing was on the wall a long time."

"You are losing me here, mom." Shawn said, really exhausted by now. "What are you …?"

"When I got that job out of town, it was an incredible opportunity." she explained. "I was afraid I would never have a chance again, so I took it. You went into your senior year. Your path was set. It seemed the right time if such a thing is possible. I thought, of all people, that you would be okay." She took his hand into hers. "I know I failed you …" she said. "But I think on that day my life began again."

Shawn looked down on her hands that lay over his, the hands of his mother, the hands that he knew since he was born. "And that´s why you left me?" he asked with a hoarse voice.

"No." she said. "No, Shawn. I left to give you the chance to be free. To make something out of your life, the way I made something of mine. So you could become what you were meant to be."

"And what is that?" he asked, barely able to keep his tears back. "What am I meant to be, mom?"

"Special, Shawn." she said. "I always knew you could be so special, that you could do anything you wanted with your gift."

"Do you have any idea what this did to me, when you left?" he shouted at her. "You wanted me to become something special? I bounced from job to job for four years. Look at me. I didn´t become a cop like dad wanted it, I didn´t become anything. I did´t even start a job training for anything. What the hell is so damn special about this?" he yelled at her.

She winced and withdrew her hands. For a moment she just stared at him, in shock. Then she got up and headed for the door, mumbling something about being sorry for bringing him in here. Shawn hurried after her, afraid he might lose her again if he would let her go now.

"No, Shawn, let me go." she cried when he tried to hold her back but he grabbed her arms and made her face him anyway.

"I´m sorry, mom." he said. "It´s just …" he sighed and tried to smile for her. "Maybe I don´t have to be special. That´s okay to be just the normal me. Can´t you just tell me that´s enough?" he almost begged. His heart was bleeding when he looked into her eyes, which were so full of love for him, her only son. She smiled at him, her hands folded in front of her mouth as if she was praying. At last she took his face into her hands.

"Why would I tell you that?" she asked him, still smiling this proud smile of hers. "When I know you could be so much more." He could only stare at her in disbelieve, while she stroke his head as if she had to wipe away a strand of hair. "If you wanted …" she said, absolutely convinced about what she was saying. "You could be President."

Shawn didn´t know what to say. Why? Why couldn´t she just let him go? Wasn´t it enough that he´d never been able to satisfy his father´s expectations? Did she have to do the same thing now? Didn´t she understand that it hurt him? That he couldn´t be what she wanted him to be? That he didn´t want to?

Tears were spilling down his cheeks but she only smiled at him. "It´s all right, Shawn." she said. "You can wake up now. Wake up."

He blinked confused. "Wake up." she said again, but this time it wasn´t her own voice that came out of her mouth. It was a male voice. A voice that he knew. But he needed to open his eyes to remember who this voice belonged to.

"Dr. Manny?" he asked, staring up at the ceiling of his therapist´s office.

"Yeah, it´s me, Shawn." the good doctor said. "Take your time, you were sleeping quite deeply."

Shawn took a breath and tried to readjust his mind to his surroundings. He was lying on a couch and Dr. Manny was sitting in a chair, right next to him.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked him now.

"I think so." Shawn answered and eased himself upright into a position that was closer to sitting. He still felt dizzy. That was the first time that he noticed that his face was wet. Quickly he wiped the tears away.

"You slept for exactly twenty minutes now." Dr. Manny told him. "Excellent. You fell asleep very quickly."

"Yeah, I … I´m very tired lately. I don´t know."

"Probably because of the lack of sleep your nightmares caused." Dr. Manny assumed.

"Yeah, probably." Shawn agreed.

"Now." the good doctor said. "You wanna tell me about your dream? Was it this Sylar again?"

Shawn took another breath and tried to remember. "No." he finally said. "No, it was my mom."

"Your mother. All right. But that can be important too. What was it about?"

Shawn shook his head. "That was weird." he said. "She … she told me I could be President." he chuckled.

"Why do you think she would say that?" Dr. Manny asked. "You ever thought about going into politics? Maybe when you were a child?"

"God, no." Shawn laughed. "I had only one goal when I was a kid. The only one my father would let me have. Becoming a cop."

"But that was not what you wanted to become." Dr. Manny assumed.

"No. I mean, yes. I … I don´t know. I always tried to be what he wanted me to be." he chuckled bitterly. "It just didn´t work out the way he wanted."

"Because you were not special enough." Dr. Manny nodded.

Shawn looked at him startled. "What did you just say?" he asked.

"You couldn´t fulfill your parents expectations because you were not as special as they wanted you to be." Dr. Manny explained. "But that´s okay, you see? No one is ever as special as their parents want them to be. That is just … not humanly possible. To be what your parents wanted you to be, you would have to be a hero. And you are no hero, Shawn. Accept it. Then you´ll feel better."

Shawn stared at Dr. Manny totally taken aback for a moment. "I never wanted to be a hero." he mumbled. "Did I?"

"What?" Dr. Manny asked. "What are you talking about?"

Shawn stared at Dr. Manny. Why was he not understanding? And why was he talking with an accent all the sudden? He didn´t even sound like Dr. Manny anymore. His friendly face became hard now. Darker.

"Wake up." he demanded harshly. "We need to refuel."

A door was opened and a cool breeze brushed over his face. Sylar opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the passenger seat of the car he´d busted at their last stop. There was a gas pump next to his window. Mohinder was just walking around the car. The gaze he threw him was aware and almost paranoid. If Sylar hadn´t felt so disoriented he could have enjoyed it. He watched Mohinder taking the delivery hose and start to fill the tank.

Sylar closed his eyes for a moment, to readjust his brain. Slowly these dreams were getting weirder … and more confusing. He got out of the car. Mohinder flinched at the sound of the door and watched closely, how he looked around.

"Where are we now?" Sylar asked casually.

"Near Chicago." Mohinder answered, still eying him warily.

Sylar nodded. "I need to use the bathroom." he then told him. "I´ll be right back." When Mohinder seemed hesitant, he added: "Or do you want to join me? In case you´re afraid I could try to run."

Mohinder gave him a face. "Hurry up." he said.

Sylar lay his hands together, in a mocking gesture of thank you. He even made a small bow before he left for the public toilets. Mohinder watched him go, not letting him out of his eyes until he was gone, around the corner. Watching. Careful. Could attack any time.

The delivery hose snapped out, when the tank was full, and the sudden sound of it, made Mohinder jump, as if someone had fired a gun at him. God. He needed to calm down.

He closed the nozzle and put the delivery hose back in its place, throwing another glance over his shoulder, to the corner where Sylar had vanished. Still no sign of him. Mohinder hesitated to take his eyes off that spot. But the driver behind him, honked his horn to chase him away from the pump, so he had no choice. He drove the car away and parked it.

On his way to the shop he glanced at the corner again. Sylar was still not coming back. It had only been a few minutes but Mohinder was already getting nervous. Would he really try to run? But even if. What then? He had accepted that possibility when he´d allowed him to leave the facility. If Sylar was gone, Mohinder would go on alone, just like planned.

He went into the shop and payed for the gas. Back at the car, he hesitated though, glancing once again at the corner. Should he even wait? Maybe it would be better if he´d just drive away. He would live much safer if he did, so much was for sure. But what about the rest of the population? Could he really afford it to let this murderer out of his sight? As long as he had him under his watch and the gun with the shots of Glycimerine in his pocket, he could keep him from harming anyone. Maybe he could even catch him and lock him away again, when the time was up. Maybe he could even kill him.

Mohinder hesitated. What was his alternative? To look over his shoulder again and again while he tried to fulfill his mission? As much as he mistrusted Sylar, as long as he knew where he was, he could focus on his other enemies. And there would be a lot of them. So he decided to at least try to see if he was still there.

He rounded the corner, noticing with an uncomfortable feeling that he was now out of public sight. Maybe that was the reason why Sylar had gone here in the first place. Did he expect him to come after him? He threw a checking glance over his shoulder, to see if he could reach the corner fast enough in case Sylar should attack him. When he turned back, somebody ran into him. Mohinder was about to apologize when he realized who it was.

"Dear god, Mohinder." the killer said. "You really _are_ impatient." When Mohinder didn´t give a response, Sylar asked, smirking: "You were not afraid I could have left you, were you?"

The killer´d only walked a few steps, his back to Mohinder, when Mohinder´s hand shot to his pocket, where he´d stored his gun. It was empty.

He stared at Sylar´s back in shock and only a second later he spotted an iron bar, lying on a barrel. He grabbed it and immediately faced the muzzle of his own gun.

"You are really bad in concealing weapons, doctor." Sylar told him. "Throw the bar away. You could hurt someone with that."

Mohinder stared at Sylar, hatefully. Slowly he lowered the bar, dropping it to the ground.

"Good choice." Sylar praised.

Mohinder raised his hands and backed up, carefully inching closer to the wall. His eyes jumped from Sylar to the gun and back to Sylar.

"What are you gonna do?" he asked.

"Oh, I don´t know." Sylar said. "Why don´t you suggest something?"

Mohinder´d reached the wall, and reacted. He threw himself against it, shoulder first. The confused frown on Sylar´s forehead was immediately replaced by a grimace of pain, when the high and almost inaudible tone, came to life again, penetrating his brain. He went down to his knees, the way it had happened in the lab, his hand on his head.

Mohinder stepped away from the wall, and Sylar raised the gun. But Mohinder only needed to raise the intensity of the signal and Sylar cried out in pain. Eventually he dropped the gun, to grab his own head instead. Mohinder kept the signal going until he´d picked up the gun. Then he switched it off.

"Fortunately I´m much better in concealing remotes." he said and took the little device out of his pocket, hidden in the fabric of his jacket, right at the shoulder.

Sylar looked up at him, panting. When he saw what Mohinder´d done, he smiled and Mohinder felt rage rising in his chest again.

He pushed the button once more.

Again Sylar winced under the pain the signal caused him. Mohinder watched this for a few more seconds before he switched off. The killer was panting heavily.

Mohinder went down to cower before him, his thumb hovering over the button, ready to push it again if necessary.

"I should just put this on the highest level possible and let it keep going." he hissed at Sylar. "Until your nerves collapse. It would be a painful death."

"I´m sure it would be." Sylar looked up at him and Mohinder hurried to stand up, taking some steps back. But Sylar didn´t attempt to attack him.

"I really should do it." he mused, more to himself than to the killer. "That way I could make sure you´re no danger anymore."

"Yeah, but you won´t do it." Sylar replied.

"No?" Mohinder asked. "And why´s that?"

"Because you´re not a killer." Sylar said, matter of factly. "If you would be, you´d take that bar over there and really satisfy your longing for revenge. We both know it´s not physical strength that keeps you from it." Sylar saw the change in the scientist´s eyes and nodded. "You are not a killer, Mohinder." he repeated. "I am. And you need one to do what you plan to do."

Mohinder frowned. From all the things he´d expected Sylar to say in this moment, this was not on the list. Now this killer looked up at him, still breathing heavily, smiling this confident smile Mohinder despised so much about him. He nodded.

"Oh, yeah, you will need me." he emphasized. "You might not want to admit it, but you´ll need me."

"I can´t trust you." Mohinder said.

"No, you can´t. But if you want to survive, you´ll want me to be with you on this. You were right about one thing. I want to bring them down too. If you like it or not … we are on the same side."

Mohinder just stared at the murderer before him, in utter disbelieve. "Then why this ambush?" he demanded to know.

"Call it a checkout." Sylar replied. "Now we know where each of us stands." He attempted to move, waiting for Mohinder´s reaction. When the scientist didn´t do anything, he slowly stood up.

For a moment the two men just looked at each other, until Sylar broke the spell.

"Well, as far as I´m concerned, we could keep going now." he said. "If you´re ready that is."

Mohinder was still not sure what to think of this man. But on the other hand, did he have a choice? "If you ever try something like that again, I will kill you." he said.

Sylar studied his face for a moment, his smile still playing on his lips. "Wow." he said, as if honestly impressed. "I almost believed you."

Mohinder scowled and signaled with his gun for Sylar to move. The murderer raised his hands, as if he was afraid Mohinder could really shoot him if he didn´t obey. He turned his back on him, leading the way and Mohinder followed him, fighting all the curses that were in his head. Because he knew that Sylar was still smirking, even though he couldn´t see his face. When they reached the corner and stepped back into public view, he hid the gun in his pocket, not quite letting go of it. Yet.

Sylar waited for him to get in the car, before he opened his own door. Just like a good hostage was supposed to do it. It was really kind of amusing. Minus the agonizing pain this damn remote had caused him. Maybe he would find a way to get rid of that thing later.

He settled into his seat and watched Mohinder how he watched him. The scientist started the car. Eventually Sylar turned his head away from his driver, chuckling amused. This little stand off was over now. It had done its work.

Before they left the gas station, he noticed a man looking after them. It could be pure coincidence, just a random guy that looked after a random car leaving a random gas station. But he was living the life of a criminal far too long to take that chance.

"When we stop next time, we should get a new car." he informed Mohinder.

"What?"

"If we keep it too long they´ll recognize us because of it. When we stop next time, I´ll bust a new one and we´ll get rid of this."

"You must be out of your damn mind, Shawn. This is a company car. Are you dreaming again? Shawn. Wake up."

A hand touched his shoulder and shook him. Shawn opened his eyes and jumped up in his seat. His elbow collided with the door and sent pins and needles through his arm. He looked around and found himself in the blueberry, just where he belonged and right next to him, a confused frown on his best friend´s face.

**...**

"Are you all right?" Gus asked when he saw Shawn wince.

"Sure." Shawn groaned and massaged his elbow. "Just fell asleep for a moment."

"You were dreaming again, weren´t you?" Gus asked, now looking concerned.

"Yeah." Shawn admitted. "Was I … Was I talking?"

"You were."

"Wow. What was I saying?"

"You wanted to get rid of my car."

"Well." Shawn smirked hesitantly. "Maybe that´ll remain wishful dreaming."

"Shawn!"

Shawn just grinned and got out of the car. The conference center was on the other side of the street, big and pompose. Great location too. He could see the Golden Gate Bridge even from here. How must it look like when one was standing at a window up there? If Maria Takolov ever saw that view? They would find out. And when she was here, they would try to get her to confess the murder of her husband and his girlfriend right away. They would …

"Seriously, Shawn." Gus demanded and dragged him out of his thoughts. "What did you dream? This is starting to get serious."

"Dude, I know." Shawn agreed. "That was the weirdest dream I had so far. It started with me and my mom. But that turned out to be a dream in the dream. One that I had while being in therapy session with Dr. Manny."

"Your sports psychologist?"

"Yeah. And by the way, this part of the dream was definitely your fault."

"My fault?"

"Yeah. Because you talked about sending me to a shrinker."

"I only suggested that you should seek some professional advise, Shawn." Gus argued. "These dreams are getting worse."

"You´re right." Shawn admitted. "Especially this last part."

"There was more?"

"I was again …" Shawn was about to tell when he noticed a boy walking over to them. He was maybe seventeen or so and he was looking directly at Shawn.

"Excuse me." he addressed them politely. "Are you Shawn Spencer, the psychic detective from Santa Barbara?"

"Dude, we are famous." Shawn whispered at Gus. "Indeed I am." he told the boy, smiling proudly. "And this is my partner Chestnut Brown. At your service. Are there any keys I can find for you? Just kidding. That´s for the first graders in the psychic league. Usually I take on the really hard cases. That´s why I work with the police department."

"I know that." the boy said. "We studied your cases."

"We?" Gus asked.

"Dude, I have a fan club." was all Shawn could think of.

"I just wanted to ask …" the boy interrupted them, excited. "Are you really a psychic? I mean for real?"

Shawn raised his hand to his temple. "I am." he said, dramatically.

"That is so cool." the boy exclaimed. "I´m Kyle. I´m always looking for someone like you. That´s kinda … what I´m doing. Can I … Can I shake your hand?"

Shawn reached out his hand immediately, a generous smile on his lips despite his uncertainty about what this kid just talked about. The teen shook his hand with all the enthusiasm of a fanboy. But then suddenly his smile faded and he looked down on Shawn´s hand with an expression that could only be described as disappointment. Shawn and Gus exchanged an uncertain glance.

The boy glanced up at Shawn again, serious this time, the eager and childish glowing in his eyes was gone. When he seemed to have overcome his initial disappointment, he opened his mouth and told them: "You must be careful. There are men who´ll come after you."

"Wow." Shawn cried laughing. "That was pretty good for a start. But you need to do something like this …" he raised his hand to his temple again. "To be really convincing."

"I´m not joking." the boy said, absolutely serious. "You must be careful. They don´t know that you´re not psychic. They will come for you."

"I can assure you, I am really psychic." Shawn said chuckling.

The boy didn´t smile back. "No, you´re not." he said, matter of factly. "But that won´t save you from them. So please. Be careful."

With that he just walked away and left them standing there. The two of them looked after him, completely baffled. "What the hell was that supposed to mean?" Gus asked.

He looked at Shawn and the smile on his friend´s face had vanished too. "Dude." he said a contemplative expression on his face. "That was odd. That was almost like … what Sylar said to me."

"When you visited him in jail?"

"It was no jail. More like a sci-fi hospital, hidden inside of a government building. But yeah. He said I shouldn´t let them think that I´m really psychic … because they would …" he stopped, abruptly.

"What?" Gus asked.

"Jules."

"Jules?"

"We must go back to Santa Barbara." Shawn said and swirled back around to the car.

"Wait." Gus cried with a gesture at the conference center. "What about Maria Takolov? We came all the way here to find her."

"Forget about Maria." Shawn cried, already sitting behind the wheel. "This is about Jules. Now come on. Get in the car."

Gus felt infected by the urge in his friend´s voice and hurried over to the passenger side. He gave Shawn the keys and barely ten seconds later, they left the parking lot with squeaking tires and were on their way back to Santa Barbara.


	5. Promisses To Keep

**I have Promises to Keep and Miles to go Before I sleep**

"Got it." Juliet cried with a small internal cheer and Lassiter came to her desk, curious. "This is the list of the attendants of the conference, Maria Takolov is supposed to be at." she explained and pointed at the last name on the list. "She´s listed."

"Crap." Lassiter mumbled. "The man I talked to on the phone said she was there too." He skimmed the document on Juliet´s monitor. "Wait." he then said. "What´s this?"

Juliet looked and when she didn´t find it, he pointed it out for her. "Is that the number of seats that there are in this conference room?" Lassiter asked.

"It´s more a conference hall with that many seats, but yeah. Why?"

"It says that there are three hundred and ten seats in this room." Lassiter read. "Then why are there three hundred and eleven names on that list?"

Juliet looked at the list again. He was right. Maria Takolov´s name was counted as number 311. "At a limited conference." she realized. "Additional?" she offered an explanation. "They could always add another chair."

"Or … someone wanted her on that list, to provide her with an alibi." Lassiter said.

"Someone?" "Someone. She. The boyfriend. Who knows. But this is enough for reasonable doubt in her story."

"I don´t know, Carlton. Maybe …"

"Did we already reach her?" he countered.

"Not yet, but …" "Until I haven´t spoken to her myself, she remains a suspect." Lassiter interrupted her. "She and whoever is in it with her. These maffia guys are not a piece of cake to deal with, O´Hara. Maybe they even have someone in the administration that helped them to fake this alibi."

Juliet only rolled her eyes at her partner´s over-devotion. He was again in another sphere with his theories. She only hoped that he wouldn´t torture a poor widow with his obsession, if it should turn out to be a completely wrong course. And that was highly possible. By now he even believed it to be a conspiracy of the mafia or some dubious spy organization somewhere inside the widow´s employers, plus the jealousy theory he´d viewed to begin with. Some sick kind of Romeo and Juliet thing within the mafia that was controlling technology enterprises and software industries. Maybe she should try to secretly switch his coffee with a decaf she mused. He was already driving on too much energy now.

She was so in her thoughts that she didn´t even notice Shawn and Gus coming in, until they stood in front of her desk, panting and sweating.

"Jules." Shawn addressed her, out of breath.

"Shawn." she cried, startled over his sudden appearing, not to mention their appearance. "What´s the matter?"

"Nothing." he claimed but his eyes betrayed his words. "Is everything all right?" he asked.

"Sure. Why shouldn´t it?"

"Oh, no reason. Just asking. You know. There´s nothing out of the ordinary? No one followed you on your way to Starbucks? No suspicious, shadowy figure or something?"

"What?" she cried. "Shawn, please not you too."

"What? Me too? Who else? I mean …"

"It´s enough that Carlton sees spies and mafiosi behind every corner today. I don´t need you to feed his ideas."

"No." Shawn cried. "This has nothing to do with the case. It is …"

"We met a boy." Gus explained, to bring the talk to a reasonable and structured level. "He told us that somebody would come after him."

"And you." Shawn added.

"Why me?" she asked, still totally lost in all these words.

"Because you are the one with an actual ability." Shawn cried.

" … that is not psychic." Gus hurried to add.

"Right." Shawn agreed noticing what he´d almost let slip. "The point is …"

"Stop." Juliet demanded. "Could you … just start at the beginning? Who did you meet?"

"He said his name was Kyle something." Gus explained. "He came to us on the street. In San Francisco."

"You were in San Francisco?" Juliet cried.

"What?" Lassiter´s voice came up from the other side. "What were you guys doing in San Francisco?"

"We were there to see if we could find Maria Takolov." Gus explained.

"Did you find her?" Lassiter asked, now all ears.

"No." Gus shook his head. "We didn´t get to it. Because this boy showed up."

"What boy?"

Shawn cursed. "It is not about the boy." he cried. "It´s about us. He said someone would come after us. Because they knew I was psychic."

"You are no psychic." Lassiter reminded him.

"_They_ don´t know." Shawn cried and got Gus´ elbow in the side. "I mean … I´d be happy if _they_ would think that. Don´t you see? That is what Sylar told me when I visited him in this cell before he was transferred to … wherever. He said I should pretend not to be psychic or they would try to drag me into their scientific experiment thingy. That they would try to use us as human lab rats. Me and Jules."

Finally Lassiter seemed to get the seriousness of what he was talking about. His eyes switched to his partner in concern.

"That´s why I told them that I wasn´t really psychic." Shawn revealed and made Lassiter smirk in amusement.

"You didn´t."

"Yes." Shawn replied exasperated. "I did. To protect me and you …" he looked at Juliet. "… from becoming human guinea pigs."

"But this Kyle-boy told us that they would come for us anyway." Gus explained. "Maybe they did´t believe him."

"Did he say how he knew that?" Lassiter wanted to know.

"He didn´t say anything but what we just told you." Shawn said.

"Well, he said he was looking for people like you." Gus recalled.

"People like me?" Shawn asked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"People like Sylar." Lassiter said gloomy and for a moment no one gave another response, simply because they didn´t know any.

"So what do we do now?" Juliet asked at last.

"You´ll need police protection." Lassiter decided at once and Shawn could only agree, with a gesture.

"I am the police." Juliet argued.

"You know what I mean." Lassiter was stubborn.

"And what reason do you want to name for that?" she asked. "That secret government agents are after me because they´re hunting human targets that are not quite human?"

"Ssshhhhh!" Shawn hissed, looking around to make sure no one had heard her. "I did everything to keep that secret. You don´t need to yell that through the whole police station."

"Shawn." she groaned. "Just because Sylar said that I had a gift, doesn´t mean that he was talking about … well, whatever it is that made him the way he was."

"But what if it is?" Shawn argued.

"And even if not." Gus agreed. "These people won´t ask for that. They´ll just assume that you are and then they´ll capture you. Just like a rare specimen."

"Are you guys serious?" Juliet chuckled. "We´re talking about the US government. This isn´t Area 51."

"And how can you be sure?" Shawn probed. "Did they ever tell us about people like Sylar before? They knew what he was and they did nothing to warn the general public."

"He´s right." Lassiter agreed. "If there really are people after you, we need to take precautions."

"Wow." Juliet exclaimed demonstratively. "Who would have thought that I would live to see the day when you two are singing from the same hymn sheet."

Shawn cocked his head in puzzlement. "When did we start to talk about music?" he wondered.

Juliet threw her head in her neck, groaning. "It is not that I´m not touched by your concern guys. But I´m fine. There is no one after me."

"You don´t know that for sure." Lassiter argued.

"I think I´m pretty good at noticing if I´m being followed on the streets." Juliet replied. "I had a training too."

"I didn´t mean that …"

"Good." she cut him off. "Then I suggest we go back to our actual work instead of discussing conspiracy theories. There is still a case we have to solve. And frankly I can´t hear anymore about mafia or … or secret government facilities featuring mad scientists and whatever. I´ll try to reach Maria Takolov again. It´s about time that someone tells her about her husband´s decease. And when she comes here, I will talk to her. Just in case that she´s innocent."

Lassiter was about to say something, but she was already walking away, not looking back.

"Great." Shawn groaned with an accusing look at Lassiter. "Well done." With that he hurried after her, to try it one more time on his own.

**...**

Sylar woke up rather peaceful for a change. It was a refreshing feeling not to be dragged out of his dream with massive confusion following. Still there was a word that seemed to be left over.

"Conspiracies." he mumbled, trying to figure out what it was supposed to mean.

Next to him Mohinder threw him a suspicious glance. His hands were clinging around the steering wheel, Sylar noticed. No wonder. It was already getting late and he´d been driving since they´d fled New York. Obviously his super strength started to abandon him after all. Even with this power he was powerless against one simple human weakness. The need for sleep.

Sylar smiled unnoticeable, stretching himself to get the sleep out of his own arms and legs. Of course Mohinder watched him, carefully, out of the corner of his eye. Sylar smiled at him, a little too brightly to look real but that was intended. The scientist reacted promptly, as Sylar had expected him to do. His gaze went even more suspicious.

"Where are we now?" Sylar asked and threw a look out of the window. They were driving through a wide landscape with fields and woods along the horizon. He guessed Kansas but he couldn´t be sure. The only thing he was sure of was the fact that this street was pretty much deserted.

"Thirty miles from Denver." Mohinder answered his question. His tone made clear that he wasn´t interested in a chat.

Colorado then, Sylar mused. But he´d been close. "Oh." he made, willing to ignore the doctor´s hostile tone. "Hey, I know a good restaurant around here." he told him. "It´s in a small town called Jericho. Pretty biblical, hm? But they have something consistent. Honestly. If there should ever be an atomic war or something, I always figured that town would be the one that survives it."

Mohinder was still not looking at him but straight ahead at the street. Sylar smiled. "Oh, and they make the best coffee you could ever ask for." he kept talking and looked at the scientist in an obvious way. "You look as if you could need one. You must be tired, Mohinder. Maybe I could drive for a while."

"I´m fine." was the short and rough answer.

"Oh, but you don´t look fine. You´ve been awake since we left New York … how long ago? Almost two days now. You should rest a little. Look at me, I slept and I feel great."

"I said, I´m fine."

Sylar looked at the scientist, studying him. Eventually he shrugged.

"Okay." he said and settled deeper into his seat.

He looked out of the window for a while, viewing this incredible landscape, thinking how much it reminded of the desert of Nevada in some way. It was wide, it was deserted and it must be easy to let a body vanish unseen out here … if one should be in a need to let a body disappear that was. He looked at his driver again. Mohinder really looked tired. But he was still on his guard, Sylar could tell that from the look in his eyes.

He knew why he hadn´t slept so far. It had nothing to do with the long distance they had to cross to reach their target. If that was so, they could easily take turns in driving. But of course Mohinder would never do that. He wouldn´t just let him drive. That meant he would have to tell him where they were heading. And he would as hell not sleep while he was near him, afraid that he would kill him as soon as he closed his eyes. But the way was long. Too long for him to stay awake forever. It was just a matter of time. And Sylar was patient.

"Don´t you think it´s about time that you tell me what the whole plan is?" Sylar asked out of the blue to catch the geneticist off guard.

"I already told you what the plan is." Mohinder replied after a moment.

"You told me that you want to "destroy the Company´s system"." he quoted. "But how? That´s what I´m talking about. You know like what we´re gonna do as soon as we get to the enemy line."

"You don´t need to know the whole plan." Mohinder said.

"You really don´t trust me a bit, do you?" Sylar asked.

"You gave me no reason to trust you."

"I saved your life."

"Oh, yes." Mohinder chuckled. "Of course. You´re a real hero."

"Maybe I could be one." Sylar replied a little offended. "Ever thought of that? I proved that I can. I thought Bennet told you about the night in Central Park. I saved those peoples lives."

"When he told me about that, I almost couldn´t believe him." Mohinder stated. "And after I saw what you were before we captured you, I think I was right to doubt it."

"That wasn´t my fault." the convicted murderer defended himself.

"No?" Mohinder snapped. "Whose fault was it? Your victims? My cousin´s perhaps? Or his wife´s?"

"I didn´t … When I went to Mina I didn´t know who she was." Sylar tried to explain.

"That would have made a difference?" Mohinder cried.

"I … I don´t know." Sylar actually was confused now. He hadn´t planned the talk to take this direction. "Maybe."

"How relieving." Mohinder hissed. His hands were clinging around the steering wheel to a point where his knuckles were turning white.

"I know you don´t believe me." Sylar said. "Why should I? You are a murderer. You´ve always been one and you always will be."

"Maybe you´re right." Sylar admitted. "Maybe I can´t escape my own nature."

"This has nothing to do with nature." Mohinder burst out. "You are a murderer because you want to be one."

"No. I never wanted this. I became one but …"

"Don´t lie to me." Mohinder almost shouted and hit the brakes. The car came to a sliding stop at the curbside, only a few feet before it would have hit a tree. The scientist turned to the murderer with flashing eyes. "You can claim before anyone else that you´re just a victim of unfortunate circumstances, maybe even before yourself but not to me. You murdered my father, my cousin and my sister in law. You´re basically trying to wipe out my family."

"No." Sylar shook his head. "I … I didn´t mean to … Mohinder, you´ve got to believe me."

"No, I don´t." Mohinder hissed and got out of the car. Sylar hurried to follow him, startled over this retrieve.

"If I would have known that she was your cousin´s wife …" he tried to explain again.

"Then what?" Mohinder shouted. "You would have spared her because of our friendship? And would have looked for another victim?" He pulled the gun on Sylar. "Is that what you would have done? Huh?"

"I don´t know. I only know that I can´t stop. I tried but I … You know that story about the scorpion and the turtle?"

"So what? You´re trying to tell me that you only sting because it´s your nature?" Mohinder asked. By now he was almost laughing. When Sylar nodded, his smile faded. "You´re insane if you really believe that." he said.

"Maybe I am." Sylar said and in this moment his gaze changed from pleading to glowing. He smiled. "But if I am, then so are you." he said. "Where did you get this super strength from, huh? You didn´t have that when we first met. What happened? You didn´t go all mad scientist, did you? Experimenting on yourself?" He looked at Mohinder asking and then inhaled. "You did." he said as if he´d just realized this. He chuckled, shaking his head. "I must say, you were the last person in the world I would have expected that from. But I can understand why you did it. What a fascinating ability it must be. I sure wouldn´t mind it."

Mohinder grabbed his gun tighter.

"What are you going to do, Mohinder?" Sylar asked him, completely calm.

"I haven´t decided yet." the scientist said.

"Well, we are out here, far away from civilization and you´re aiming a gun at me. I think you have decided."

"Do you want me to do it?" Mohinder cried.

"Maybe." Sylar answered smiling. "Maybe I want you to release me from my misery."

"Yeah, maybe that is exactly what I should do." Mohinder replied, intentionally taking the mocking tone serious.

Sylar just shrugged and spread his arms. "Then do it." he said. "Take my powers with those shots and then take my life in whatever way you think appropriate."

An expression of shock appeared on Mohinder´s face when he realized what he was about to do. He was standing on a deserted road with a gun in his hand and some part of him had actually wanted him to be here to do exactly that. To kill a man and to bury the body in the ditch. But Sylar had been right, when he´d said that he was no killer. He´d defeated that part of his soul. Now all he was, was a scientist. And he had a mission he should focus on. What was he doing here? When he looked at his about to be victim, Sylar smiled.

"Doubts, doctor?" he asked. "How so? Isn´t that what you wanted? To take revenge for your father that I have killed? For your cousin? And all the other people that are dead because of me?"

"Shut up!"

"And to prevent me from killing even more, if I would ever be free again?"

"I said shut up!"

"Because that is what I will do and you know it." Sylar shouted, tipping the last scale in the scientist´s mind. Mohinder pulled the trigger and the syringe with the drug left the muzzle. Only it never reached its target. Sylar just stared at it and it stopped, a few inches before his face. The killer smiled.

"Familiar?" he asked.

Mohinder couldn´t believe it and fired the gun again. The result was the same. Sylar waved his hand and the shots flew away to shatter on the pavement of the road.

"I can´t believe you didn´t see that coming." Sylar said.

Mohinder immediately took the remote out of his pocket and pushed the button. Only this time Sylar didn´t react to it. He didn´t scream and writhe in pain. Instead he just smiled. Mohinder gasped and opened the battery compartment. It was empty.

"You really _are_ tired." Sylar commented.

Mohinder felt his anger rise. Sylar had tricked him. He didn´t know how but he´d tricked him. With a yell he bolted for him, ready to beat him up with his bare hands. But only a second later he was lifted into the air and thrown against the treetrunk his car had missed so closely just a few minutes ago. His feet were dangling a few feet over the ground. When he tried to grab the next branch, his arm got fixed to the trunk as if it was nailed there.

"Super strength isn´t very effective when you have nothing to grab, now is it, doctor?" Sylar said.

Mohinder panted in his anger and stared down to the murderer holding him, without doing so much as holding up his hand.

"What are you gonna do now?" he asked. "Kill me to steal my power?"

"Maybe. I haven´t decided yet." was all Sylar said.

"What the hell do you want?" Mohinder yelled and almost managed it to get his arms free in the process. Almost.

"I want to know what all this is about." Sylar said. "I don´t like it to go on a mission without getting briefed, you know. So tell me. What is all this really about? The Company? You´ve worked for the Company. And as far as I know you were not forced to do so back then. So what happened? Did someone of the higher ups piss you off with something? Did they steal your work to use it for bad things? Would be a classic. Is it that?"

"No." Mohinder said still trying to fight Sylar´s invisible grip.

"Then what is it?"

"They are killing people." Mohinder revealed. "People with abilities. That´s their new politics. They are too dangerous so they have to be stopped. And since locking them away has proved unproductive in the past …"

"They decided to get rid of them." Sylar understood.

"Yes."

"I see." Sylar mused. "And you are trying to stop them. To save all these innocents. You are aware of the fact that by letting me free, you exchanged one danger for them against another. That is if you can truly stop the Company with your plan."

"I figured that one single man that tries to kill them, is less dangerous than an organization that hunts them down after a scheduled plan." Mohinder explained.

Obviously his words had hit a mark, because Sylar lowered his gaze, in thoughtful consideration.

"I see." he said and looked up at him again. The malicious look was back in the killer´s eyes. "Tell me one thing, doctor. What you did to me. The poking, the pinning. The boring, the slashing and slicing. The torture. Was that really doing any good for your research? Were you really trying to find a cure for people with abilities? Were you?"

Mohinder swallowed. So that was it. "What do you want to hear from me?" he asked instead of giving an answer.

"I want the truth." Sylar demanded, intensifying his telekinetic grip that held Mohinder. The scientist gasped for air until Sylar let him breathe again. "Now?" he demanded an answer.

"I´d given up doing real research for the Company months before you even got there." Mohinder admitted. "Everything I did was just to keep up my cover. To let them believe I was working on the formular … while my only target was to get to the main computer."

"And you used your time well." Sylar pointed out. For a moment he was smiling cynically but then he choked Mohinder again, an expression of rage on his face. "You waited three months before you asked me for my help. Months in which you tortured me. That´s not excused with being indecisive."

"I thought I could find another way." Mohinder brought out. "Can you really blame me for trying to find a way that didn´t include letting a serial killer run free?"

Sylar held the choking grip one more minute, before he let go. "No." he said at last. "You´re right, I can´t blame you for hesitating. Not even for enjoying it. I would have done the same thing. And more. But you … hesitated. Three. Months. That´s a little bit of an overkill, don´t you think?"

Mohinder didn´t know what to say but obviously Sylar didn´t expect him to say any more. Instead he looked him over for a moment until he´d spotted what he was looking for. He waved his finger and it flew out of Mohinder´s pocket and right into his hand. He looked at the disk for a moment, turned it in his hand so he could see everything. When he glanced at Mohinder again, he was smiling.

"So that´s the place we were heading for all along." he said. "I see. Talk about irony."

"You can´t do that without me." Mohinder told him.

"We´ll see." was all Sylar said, putting the disc in his pocket.

"You said you want to stop them too, so let me help you …" Mohinder cried but Sylar only shushed him as if he were a little kid, having a tantrum.

"Sh sh sh sh shhh." he made. "Don´t beg for your life, Mohinder. That´s beneath you."

He slowly let him slide down the tree until his feet almost touched the ground. Still Mohinder was unable to move his arms. He could only watch this killer approaching him, his murderous hand reaching out for him, his dark eyes fixed on his, a cold fire glowing in them. Mohinder tried to free himself from that invisible grip but it was useless.

"Don´t bother." Sylar said gently. "You´re too weak. Too tired. You should have listened to me when I told you to get some sleep. Now it is time."

"You don´t need to do this." Mohinder cried but Sylar only shook his head.

"I´m afraid I have to." he said. "Sorry. I really would have wished it different. But you leave me no choice, Mohinder."

"No." Mohinder struggled against that invisible force, but Sylar raised his hand to his face.

He tried to move his head to avoid it but there was no way. The killer touched his head. Mohinder screamed but it was already too late. A moment later everything around him went dark.


	6. Tag And Bag

**Tag and Bag**

Lassiter sat in his car, sipping his coffee. It was ten thirty p.m. and the lights in the house on the other side of the street had gone dark by now. The usual time. Usually his time too but he was absolutely okay with spending the night in the car. He was perfectly stocked with supplies which contained a few sunflower seeds and enough coffee to push a herd of elephants.

It wasn´t his first stakeout and it was very likely that it wouldn´t be his last one. If they wouldn´t show up tonight then maybe tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. Or someday next week. He didn´t care. He would wait. He knew they´d come. He couldn´t tell how he knew but he knew. He even had had a dream about it, when he´d had his daily nap this afternoon to collect his strength for tonight.

He´d seen them coming with a huge and heavy armed force. He would never admit that though, especially not in front of Spencer. But it was his guts that told him to be on his guard tonight. He would be ready. If they´d come he´d be ready.

The time was crawling. All around, along the street, the lights went out in the windows one by one. Lassiter kept his eyes open. Some people strolled along the street on their way home, some on their way to work the nightshift, a hobo that rummaged in the trashcans. Lassiter watched them all. Who knew in what disguise they´d come. But in the end it wasn´t as half as difficult to recognize them as what they were. They came as obvious as one could wish for, not long after midnight. In black uniforms, masks, even nightscopes on their heads. And armed. Heavily armed, just the way he´d seen it in his dream. Well, maybe not quite as heavy – there was no tank involved – but it was close enough.

He pulled his gun even before he took his radio. "This is detective Lassiter." he radioed and named the address. "I have two suspects, armed and dangerous entering the house. Send every unit that is available. I´m going in."

With that he was on the way. Carefully but fast as a cat he hurried over the street, over to the spot where he´d seen the two culprits vanish. He snuck around a corner, always ready to fire if he should surprise them in their efforts to break in. But instead of spotting two burglars trying to open a window, he spotted an already open window with curtains flying out of it.

"Dammit." he cursed and hurried to the window. They were already inside. How long? A minute? Two? Lassiter didn´t lose any more time to check if the backup was on the way. He climbed in as fast as he could.

Inside it was quiet. He looked around, checking all the corners and immediately made his way into the hallway. The moment he peeked around the corner, he saw them. The two figures were on their way to the bedroom. Lassiter took cover again and drew his second weapon he´d brought. A taser. When he heard them opening the door, he had no choice anymore. He jumped out of his hiding place and aimed at the two men.

"Freeze!" he yelled. "Weapons down and hands in the air!"

Despite his own words, he didn´t wait for them to react. The yelling hadn´t been for them anyway. He shot the taser at the one guy and his gun at the second. The same time he went back behind the corner to avoid their bullets. And there were many. The wall got perforated, only a moment after he´d taken cover. He could hear one of the men groan, the one he´d tasered. At least he´d managed to take out one of them. For the moment. His bullet he´d shot didn´t seem to have any effect though. They were probably wearing vests.

Now he could hear the surprised shouts from the bedroom. Immediately he fired around the corner again. His bullets hit the still standing man in the back, distracting him for a moment. Otherwise his theory of the vest seemed proven now. The hitman swirled around and fired at him. Lassiter jumped back into cover.

"O´Hara!" he yelled, putting a new magazine into his gun.

There were new shots but this time it was O´Hara´s Glock. He recognized the sound of it. The culprit fired too.

"Jules!" Spencer cried out and Lassiter jumped up, rushing down the hall firing his gun at the hitman. This time he aimed at the legs and arms and finally his bullets showed effect. The man groaned and went down to his knees.

Immediately Lassiter took out his cuffs.

"Hands over your head." he demanded and when he got no response he grabbed the man´s arms to force the cuffs on him.

"Jules, look out!" he heard Spencer shout and then all the sudden there were new gunshots.

Lassiter swirled around, just in time to see the second man, the one he´d tasered, firing at his partner. O´Hara screamed and Lassiter, acting on autopilot, fired his gun at the culprit before him. The man screamed in pain when the bullets went right through his arm. But it was another groan that seemed to thunder in Lassiter´s head. And that one came from where this bastard had aimed.

Spencer was standing in front of his partner his hands on her shoulders, his legs slowly giving in and at least five gunshot wounds in his back.

"Shawn, no." Juliet exclaimed, trying to cling to her boyfriend´s cloths. He managed it to stand for another few seconds. Then a compulsion made its way up his throat and he coughed out a big squall of blood, before breaking down at last.

Lassiter immediately took his cell phone out, to call for an ambulance.

"We have an officer down." he told them. "Send an ambulance here and quick for gods sake."

Behind him there were voices and a moment later two other officers were in the room with them, taking the culprits and getting them out. But all this was background for Lassiter. All he could hear was Spencer´s groaning and O´Hara´s desperate voice, crying Shawn´s name over and over again, taking turns with pleading No and begging for him to hang on.

Lassiter barely noticed how he walked over to them. His legs were moving on their own. He wished he could do something, anything more than stopping the bleeding. Shawn had coughed blood for gods sake. That meant his lung was hit. And who knew what else. It had been five bullets, dammit. Five. And the fake psychic was already drifting off, crying O´Hara or not.

When the ambulance finally arrived he was already unconscious.

Carlton had to hold his partner to keep her on her feet, while the paramedics lifted Shawn on a stretcher and into their car. And the damn backup team he´d called almost an eternity ago, arrived, now that everything was over. Before he got in his car to follow Shawn, he yelled at the officers, to secure the house and to take care of the crime scene. Then he was behind the wheel and raced after the ambulance as fast as he could, O´Hara in the passenger seat and many questions in his head. Far too many.

But the one question that kept coming back to him was: Is he gonna make it? Is he gonna live? It were five bullets. He´d coughed blood.

The paramedics shoved his stretcher directly from the ambulance car to the intensive care. Lassiter and O´Hara were asked to wait until the doctors knew the condition of the patient.

It turned out his condition was more critical than they´d feared. Of course he needed surgery and Juliet just couldn´t help herself. She asked them, begged them to be honest, to tell them how the chances really were. The nurse told them they couldn´t tell. Everything would depend on how he made it through the surgery. And no matter how long the process really needed, they both felt as if the time was crawling. When Lassiter looked at his watch again, he almost couldn´t believe how less time had really passed in these last few hours.

He´d made the phone calls, to Henry and Guster, to tell them what happened. After he´d informed _them_ – god their reactions – he planned to call chief Vick. He wanted to ask for a status report, on the case and the two culprits he´d arrested. But before he even had a chance to dial, a doctor came out, from the emergency room, his hands bloody and his face tired.

O´Hara jumped up from her seat, looking at the man expecting, tensed as hell. The phone in Lassiter´s hand became a strange object that didn´t seem to belong there. Something that was only there because someone had placed it in his hand without permission.

"I´m sorry." the doctor told them, his voice low. He shook his head. "The injuries were too severe."

"No." O´Hara cried in denial.

"We did everything we could but …"

"NO!" she cried again. "That´s impossible."

"I´m very sorry." the doctor said but was only honored with the same forceful NO again.

She pushed the doctor aside, to get into the room, to Shawn. Lassiter had no idea how he managed it to react that fast – probably pure instinct – but he hurried after her. He reached her, a little too late, in the doorway, but she´d already stopped, dead in her tracks. She had her hand over her mouth and for a moment it seemed as if she´d stopped breathing.

In the middle of the room there was the stretcher with Shawn on it. The doctors and nurses had abandoned him, left him alone in this dirty cold light, to clean up the mess later, after they´d cleaned themselves maybe. And if one ignored the bloody sheets and operation tools on the cart, one could have believed Shawn to be asleep.

But even if it wasn´t for all of this, there was something about his face – so limp and pale, missing the usual smile that seemed to belong to his face like the ocean to the beach – that spoke loud and clear about the fact that there was no life left behind those closed eyes.

Lassiter came back around from this shock just in time to save his partner from stumbling and falling to the ground. He grabbed her and gently led her out of the room. Away from that sight, that was so unreal, even to him.

Surprisingly she followed without a struggle. Maybe she hoped for a miracle, for the impossibility that if they just turned around now and closed their eyes to make a wish, that this cruel sight in there would just vanish into thin air and when they looked again, he would be alive and well and laugh at them, because of their baffled faces. The way he always laughed at them. But of course that wouldn´t happen. Because people didn´t come back from the dead. They´d come to kill them and they´d succeeded. Lassiter had come to prevent that and he had failed. Shawn was dead and that was his fault.

"It´s my fault." O´Hara cried and finally threw herself into Lassiter´s arms.

He felt her shaking with sobs, so violently that it hurt him deep inside, even more than the shock Shawn´s death itself had caused. "This … is ahall … my fahault." she weeped. "H..he told mehe. If Ahai wuhould have lihistened …"

"No. God." Lassiter tried to speak against this. "Juliet. You couldn´t have done anything."

"He only sta..hayed with me tonight … bec..hause I wouldn´t … believe what he sahaid." she cried. "If Ihhhadn´t been so stuhubborn …"

"It wasn´t your fault." was all Lassiter knew to say. He repeated it again and again, while she was crying on his shoulder. For an eternity as it seemed.

At the end of the hallway, Lassiter noticed two figures, quickly approaching them. He guessed it a second before his eyes focused on them. When Henry and Guster realized what was going on, their faces turned pale.

"No." Henry exhaled but with less force than Juliet had done it before. When she heard his voice, she turned around to them, her face wet with tears. This sight seemed to tip the scales for the two men, the one thing that made them understand that it was no mistake and that the truth was not deniable anymore. Not this time. The always lucky Shawn Spencer had finally met his faith.

Henry stumbled a step back and somehow lost his balance in the process. He landed halfway on a chair, shoving it aside when he tried to blindly reach out for it. He landed on his butt and stayed there, thunderstruck.

"This is not true." he whispered. "This can´t be."

"Shawn?" Gus asked, for the first time able to form words since they´d arrived.

Lassiter looked into his eyes and couldn´t bring himself to say anything at all. Nothing he could say would change a thing and they both knew it. He´d never seen Guster so sick and pale.

"What the hell happened?" Henry asked from his position on the ground. He´d tried to bark the question but instead it had come out as a desperate whining sound.

Lassiter didn´t know the answer to that either. He didn´t know anything anymore. Only one thing. Shawn was dead and this was no bad dream. It was the hard and cold reality.

**...**

A young orderly made his way through the halls of the hospital. He was carrying a tray with tools. Scissors, scalpels, clamps. All of them clean and ready to be used in surgery again. Only that there was no need for these tools anymore. Not in this case. The patient was dead and no surgery would be able to change that anymore. Before he entered the ER – now empty except for the deceased – he could see the four people that stood in the hallway – one of them sitting on the ground – crying over the loss of their friend. And he felt bad for them. It shouldn´t have come that far. These people shouldn´t be mourning. They´d been a little too late. He had been a little too late.

When he´d become a paramedic, he´d chosen that path to help people, to save their lives. He´d had the power of healing, once in his life, and still he was sometimes too late. Healing didn´t include bringing people back from the dead. That was where his limits were and he had to learn that far too often lately. They should have been faster. They should have known.

He knew it wasn´t his fault. Not really. No one could have done anything differently. But sometimes he just couldn´t help but feel that way. This just shouldn´t have happened. Not to these people. They were innocent. They all were.

He slipped into the room, almost unnoticed and put the tray with the tools down, before turning to the dead Shawn Spencer on the stretcher. Again he felt that stitch of guilt in his chest. But he shoved it aside, made himself focus. He was here to do something and not to pity himself for not being able to save the day, when it would have been called for. And he had to hurry, before the nurses came back to bring the body to the morgue.

Quickly he got a syringe out of his pocket and rolled up the sleeve of the dead man. Even though he knew the act was not the same with a dead person, he slapped on the veins, out of pure habit, before he gave the shot. The blood would do its work, he was sure of it. It always did.

Behind him the door was opened and startled him in the middle of the shot. He was about to turn around, to tell a rehearsed excuse to whoever´d entered the room, when this someone was already at him. He only felt the stitch in his shoulder and even before he had a chance to groan over the pain, he was swirled around and pushed over to the wall. He saw a gun pointing at him and hit it away, just a second before it could be fired. The attacker grabbed his face and he struggled. But for some reason he couldn´t free himself. He reached out for the attacker but couldn´t manage any more than grabbing the fabric of the fake doctor´s coat.

What? Why couldn´t he …? But then he remembered the stitch of the needle in his shoulder and he knew why.

Slowly he ran out of air under the man´s grip. In an act that would have come by instinct in any other case, he raised his knee and kicked his attacker in the stomach. The man grunted and skipped back but he didn´t go down. It distracted him long enough though, to get out of his grip. Unfortunately that was all the advantage it provided. A moment later he´d picket up his gun again and this time there was no chance to hit it out of his hand, just in time. He had his finger on the trigger, squeezing … and then he got knocked over the head, with a bedpan. The metal hit his head with a hollow bang and the hitman went down to the ground.

"Dude." Shawn exclaimed, looking at the shaken orderly. "What the heck is going on here?"

**...**

Shawn looked down on himself, totally and utterly confused. He was still holding the bedpan he´d used to whack this strange dude. A guy that was dressed like a doctor but obviously wasn´t here to treat someone. Or at least not in a good way. Never a healthy environment when it included a cocked gun.

Speaking of which … He grabbed for his shirt. It was covered with blood, but he felt no pain that indicated a wound. But he believed to remember that they´d been attacked. Two guys had come into Jules´ bedroom and they´d tried to …

"Jules." he cried, swirling around.

"No, wait." the young orderly cried. "It´s all right. Your friend´s okay." he told him, massaging his throat. "No one got hurt. That is … almost no one."

"Dude, seriously." Shawn cried. "What happened to me? I feel as if I just woke up from the dead."

The orderly had been about to say something. Now he closed his mouth again, cocking his head in a way as if he tried to say: Well …

"Are you kidding?" Shawn cried and immediately the orderly reached out both hands, to calm him down.

"No, no." he said. "It´s okay. You were shot but we could save you. Your heart stopped for a moment but now you´re all right again."

"All right?" Shawn shrieked. "You be all right after waking up in a room that looks like a morgue."

He realized that he was still holding the bedpan and dropped it to the ground.

"I know that must be confusing." the orderly said. "Just … take it easy, okay?"

"You can talk, dude." Shawn exhaled. "Who are you anyway?"

"My name´s Peter." the man said. "I´m a nurse."

"And this guy?" Shawn pointed at the unconscious man on the ground.

"I´m not sure." Peter the nurse admitted but then he was focused on Shawn again. "Why don´t you just sit down for a moment and I … I give you something against the excitement." he suggested.

"Against the excitement?" Shawn cried. "I don´t need a tranquilizer, I need some explanation."

"It´s really better that way." Peter the nurse insisted, already holding a shot in his hand.

Shawn withdrew his arm though, refusing to be sedated.

"Please, you just came out of surgery." Peter the nurse tried to reason with him. "You could … open up your wounds."

"What wounds?" Shawn cried. "Believe me, I know how it feels like after being shot. If you guys didn´t give me some hell of a painkiller, then I believe this hospital is about to win the Pulitzer Prize for medicine."

The young orderly frowned in confusion. "You seem to be confused." he said after a moment, using Shawn´s mistake as an excuse to convince him into taking the shot.

"Sure I am." Shawn cried. He slowly got impatient with this guy, that seemed to know so much more than he was willing to tell. "I get shot several times and when I wake up I have not a single scratch? I mean seriously …" He halted, suddenly realizing something. "Oh, my god." he exhaled. "Did _he_ do that to me? Did he make me the way _he_ is?"

"Who?" Peter the nurse asked, confused.

"Sylar." Shawn cried, not really expecting this orderly to understand what he was talking about.

But instead of just frowning as if it was all Greek to him, something else happened in the face of the young orderly. Something that looked like puzzlement and shock, all the same. But it vanished as fast as it had come.

"You are confused." he said again and tried one more time to set the shot at Shawn´s arm. "I just give you that and you´ll feel better when you wake up."

"No, dude, I already told you I don´t want any …"

In this moment he noticed the movement in the corner of his eye. The guy on the ground had regained consciousness, and aimed his gun at them. Shawn pushed his persistent nurse – if he was a nurse – aside and somehow lost his balance in the process. The shot rang out and a moment later Shawn felt a piercing pain in his arm. Now that was how a gunshot wound felt like.

He hit the ground with a groan and rolled behind a shelf, to get out of the line of fire. Through the space between the floor and the lowest shelf, he could see the shooter and the orderly, struggling with each other. Another shot rang out but it went into the air and didn´t hit anything but the wall. Man, what a strange hospital was that? A moment later, the door was busted and Shawn heard the familiar yell of Lassiter.

"Freeze!"

The two struggling guys raised their hands. "Drop the weapon." Lassiter demanded and the fake doctor obeyed.

"He pulled the gun on me." he claimed, pointing at the orderly. "I just took it from him."

"He´s lying." was the rather calm response to that. "He´s not a doctor. Check his ID."

"Don´t worry, I will." Lassiter promised. "I´ll check both of you. Hands behind your head."

Shawn watched the detective put the cuffs on the two men. Jules was there too. As well as his dad and somewhere in the background he believed to see Gus, panting in excitement over what just happened. They all looked more wasted than he felt himself. What reminded him of his own war wound and he groaned again, holding his arm.

The four people in the room that he knew, turned their heads at the sound, a look of total shock in their eyes. Shawn raised a hand to show them where he was.

"Over here." he cried through gritted teeth. "Some help please. I´d really appreciate it."

Hesitantly the four of them crossed the room, until their eyes fell on him. The look on all their faces was something Shawn would never forget in his life.


	7. Back To Life

**Back to Life**

"How is that possible?" Jules asked but the doctor who´d bandaged Shawn´s newest gunshot wound, could only shake his head.

"I can only say, I´m terribly sorry for this mistake." he said. "We were obviously wrong about the fact that you were dead."

"You can say that twice." Henry barked. "What kind of a doctor are you? Do you always give up on your patients when there is some struggle?"

"I only know that he had several very severe internal bleedings that we couldn´t stop. I did the surgery myself. I could tell you the exact spots where the bullets penetrated his body. But now there is nothing. I don´t know if he was really dead, there is always the possibility of a mistake in that. There are cases in which people came back around after they were believed dead. But even if this was a case like that … There was never a case in which the injuries vanished, just like that. It´s literally like a … a miraculous healing."

"No need to build a shrine for me, doctor." Shawn said with a weak smile. "It´s not as if I came out of that without a scratch."

"You were injured much worse, young man." the doctor insisted. "You were dead."

"Believe me." Shawn said. "By now I absolutely realized that."

"But … don´t you wanna know how this is possible? I mean …"

"We intent to find that out, doctor." Lassiter chipped in, gesturing for the medic to leave them alone. The old doctor looked from one of them to the other until he found that his questions were a lost course in this room. So he nodded and left.

"I still can´t believe that you´re alive." Juliet whispered, once again close to tears. "I thought I´d lost you."

"You almost did." was all Shawn could say. Because one thing was for sure. No matter how often he turned things around and around, there was just one fact that he couldn´t deny. He had been dead. And he´d still be if it wasn´t for … yeah and there he had to give up on the understanding part. Because he had no freaking idea how it was possible that he was back to life. "Maybe it really was Sylar." he mused.

"What?" Lassiter asked, a haunted look on his face.

"I don´t know." Shawn said. "Maybe he did something to me. Something that made me the way he is. You know, with all the healing stuff. Maybe that´s the reason I kept dreaming about him lately."

"Dreams?" Lassiter asked, frowning deeply.

"This boy warned us." Gus spoke up, shaking his head. "He said they´d come."

"I should have listened to you." Jules shook her head too.

"Yeah, and you know what?" Shawn said. "This orderly knows something too. I don´t know if he´s the good guy in all this but I´d rather talk to him than to that other dude."

"We´ll talk to all of them." Lassiter assured him. "As soon as we´re done here …"

"I´m done." Shawn stood up, eagerly and Lassiter nodded.

"Then let´s get back to the station and do some work. We have four suspects to interview."

**...**

Sylar drove along the road, a soft music playing on the radio. He´d been driving all night and half of the day now. It had been a quiet trip. Not that he didn´t appreciate the silence but on some parts he would have liked it to have a chat partner. There were some things that kept spinning in his head and it was always a good thing to speak them out to someone who could listen and maybe even understand.

Mohinder might not understand it all but he at least would have listened. It was a shame. It had been such a nice trip. But things were done and there was absolutely no way that he could have done it any differently. Well, maybe a little different but that was in the past now. He would have to run with how things had turned out and somehow find a way to make up for the lost time later.

Behind him he heard some rustling sounds and he quickly lowered down the volume of the music. He threw a glance in the mirror, watching how his passenger started to wake up. He wouldn´t miss the look in his eyes for anything in the world. Thanks god the street was straight on with very less traffic. The scientist opened his eyes and started to look around in utter surprise and confusion. Sylar bit his lower lip to not to grin too widely.

"Welcome back, doctor." he greeted. "Slept well? I sure hope so."

Mohinder stared at his eyes in the mirror and jumped, instinctively pressing himself against the backrest of the rear bench seat. Sylar´s grin grew wider. When Mohinder realized that he was indeed alive and seemingly not in any immediate danger, he dared to take his eyes away from Sylar´s, to look around. He was obviously trying to orient himself.

"Why am I not dead?" he asked.

"Why should you be?" Sylar asked right back with a frown as if he didn´t have the slightest idea, where the scientist got that infamous idea from.

"You could have killed me." Mohinder insisted. "There must be a reason why I´m still alive."

"Well, maybe I´m a nicer guy than you thought." Sylar offered.

"Why?" Mohinder repeated his question.

Sylar tilted his head in a don´t-be-like-that-way and looked ahead at the street again.

"You could have taken my power." Mohinder recalled.

"Ah, yeah." Sylar said and looked musingly at him in the mirror. "I´ll keep that in mind."

For a moment the creeped out and carefully aware look was back in Mohinder´s eyes. Sylar chuckled silently.

"But for now …" he went on and checked the reaction of the other man again. It was just too good. "Beside the fact that I would have missed your cheerful company …" he said. "I still need you to plant that virus into the Company´s computer system. Unfortunately I never killed anyone, who had the ability to manipulate computers." He halted for a moment when he remembered something. "But now that I think of it … actually there was one." he told Mohinder. "But I let him run. Loong story. But there you see, I _am_ a nice guy."

"Then why this whole charade?" Mohinder demanded to know.

"Charade?" Sylar repeated mockingly offended. "My dear doctor, if you would have just listened to me earlier, when I told you you needed some sleep, we could have spared the whole thing."

"If I …?" Mohinder gasped in disbelieve.

"You slept for almost twenty hours." Sylar went on talking right over him. "If that isn´t a sign that you were sleep deprived then I don´t know." He was about to turn his attention back to the street when he remembered something. "By the way, that pre-payed cell you had in your pocket … that kinda broke during our little argument. I had to throw it away."

Mohinder reached for his pocket to check it and found it indeed empty.

Sylar couldn´t help but smiled over the frustration in Mohinder´s face. "Sorry ´bout that." he shrugged and threw another glance in the mirror. Mohinder was scowling at him.

Sylar just smiled: "Breakfast?" he offered.

**...**

"All right, Mr. Peter Petrelli." Lassiter greeted the man in the holding cell. He looked at a note in his hands. "You really _are_ a nurse." he stated with raised eyebrows. "From New York. You are far away from home, aren´t you?"

The man in the cell didn´t give a response. Lassiter turned to the other man. The false doctor slash hitman.

"About you we don´t know that much though." he said. "Or about your friends." He looked around and found the other cells empty. "By the way, where are the others?" he demanded to know.

"Ehm, there are no others, detective." McNab answered startled.

"What do you mean, there are no others?" Lassiter snapped. "I arrested two men at O´Hara´s place."

"We only booked these two." McNab insisted.

Shawn and Juliet exchanged an uneasy glance. Shawn also noticed that a thoughtful expression had appeared on the young orderly´s face in the cell.

"I handed the two suspects over to two officers." Lassiter recalled. "One male, one female. They took them. You want to tell me, I made this up?"

"No, I …" McNab stuttered. "Maybe they brought them to another department?"

"Then go and find that out." Lassiter barked. "I want to know where my suspects are."

"Yes, sir." McNab replied and hurried out of the door.

"Now back to you, sir." Lassiter turned back to the suspect in the cell. "What´s your name?"

"Hank." the man said after a moment.

"Hank what?"

"Hank Burroughs." he said and before Lassiter could ask another question, he told him: "I work for the government."

"Oh, really." Lassiter smiled. "Well, that´s interesting. And … since when is the government attacking people in a hospital?"

Hank Burroughs only looked at them. "I´ve got nothing to say." he claimed.

"We´ll see how much you´ve got to say." Lassiter replied.

"I want to have my phone call." Hank Burroughs demanded.

"You can have your phone call." Lassiter said. "And after that, we´ll have a conversation." He opened the cell, put some cuffs on the man and led him out.

"I want my phone call, too." Peter Petrelli cried, just before the others could follow them out.

Henry halted, looking back at him. "In a minute." he told him. "I´ll be right back."

With that he maneuvered Shawn and Juliet out of the door.

"I bet he knows something about what happened to Lassie´s suspects." Shawn whispered when they were outside.

"We´ll see." Henry replied, glancing over his shoulder. "I´ll take care of this. You go and watch Lassiter´s interrogation. This other guy will be harder to crack than this one. Believe me, when someone starts to hide himself behind his superiors like that even before the questioning starts, you will hardly get anything out of him. Especially when they really work for the government."

"You have experience with that?" Shawn asked surprised.

"Sort of." was all Henry said. "Now go and watch this guy. Maybe you see something that Lassiter doesn´t."

After Shawn and Juliet were gone, he went back to the suspect. "All right, kiddo, now it´s your turn." he said and opened the cell. "I bring you to the phones."

The young man followed him, willingly enough and Henry pretended skillfully not to be interested in him, except for the fact that he had to walk him to the phones. When the man took the receiver and started to dial a number, Henry stood a few feet aside, as if to give him some privacy. Not too far away though.

"Claire it´s me." he heard him say. "I have a problem. I got arrested while I was in the hospital. I was attacked. … No, after that. … I tried but …" he looked around for a moment. "Listen, I can´t talk right now. You need to find a way to get me out of here. … No, I can´t. I don´t know, they gave me something. … I don´t know. Probably. But that´s not all." By now he was almost whispering. "They also arrested the man that attacked me. And also two others but they seem to be gone. … Two officers took them and now they are gone. … I think you know what happened. … We knew they were here, Claire. It was just a matter of time. … Okay. Hurry up. I don´t know how much time we have. … You too."

He hung up and turned back to Henry. There was nothing in his face that would have indicated anything out of the ordinary. Just one more suspect that had called his lawyer to get him out of some trouble. Henry led him back to the cell.

**...**

Sylar approached the counter of the diner in a light mood. Though it was almost lunchtime by now, he was of good hope to get some good old fashioned breakfast in here. Mohinder was strolling behind him with a grim face. He was still suspicious and probably expected that Sylar had put up one or two tripping hazards somewhere in here. The killer didn´t care. At least he didn´t let show any sign of care. He gave the waitress a warm smile and got an equal smile back.

"What may it be?" she asked.

"Braaaiiiins." he replied, startling her for a moment, but that was nothing compared to the shocked expression on Mohinder´s face. Sylar started to laugh. "I´m so sorry, I couldn´t resist." he chuckled at the waitress who would probably never know why he was really laughing. "Zombi horror." he said with a shrug. "What can I say?"

"You like such stuff, huh." the waitress asked smirking.

"Love it. I know, pretty stupid but …"

She just shrugged. "I like Linkin Park and Skillet, so …"

"Really?" Sylar asked, honestly surprised. "I´d never guessed that."

"I know. Hear that quiet often. Usually people take me for the America or Beachboys-type." she shrugged again. "So what can I bring you guys?"

"Two large coffees and a big plate of ham and eggs, please. My friend here needs to get his strength back, isn´t that right?" he slapped Mohinder´s shoulder, smiling brightly at the man. He was regarded with a cold glare for this.

"You got it." the waitress said and was on her way to fetch the wanted.

Sylar turned to face Mohinder, still smiling friendly. And Mohinder was still looking suspicious.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Doing what?" Sylar claimed to be absolutely innocent.

"This. All of this." Mohinder replied. "All this playing ideal world after what happened."

"You want to burden this nice girl with our private problems?" Sylar asked and made his way over to one of the corner booths. "She´s just doing her job, Mohinder."

"You know what I´m talking about." the scientist insisted sitting down, opposite of the killer. Sylar lay his head askew.

"Maybe it´s time for you to start trusting me." he suggested. "If we want to go on this mission together …"

"I´ll never trust you." Mohinder emphasized. "You are a murderer."

"Gee, not so loud." Sylar replied, looking around as if he was afraid someone could overhear their conversation. "Seriously, Mohinder. One could start thinking you want to get caught."

"_I_ want to get caught?" Mohinder cried. "I´m not the culprit here."

"No. You are the one who helped the culprit escape." Sylar replied.

Mohinder scowled. "I had no choice." he stated.

"Neither had I."

Mohinder snorted. "Oh, please. We´ve been over that before. If you can convince yourself about that, go ahead. You are the one who has to live with that conscience, not I."

The young waitress came over to them and poured them some coffee. "The eggs are on their way." she told them and left.

For a while the two men just sat there, staring at each other in silence. The hate in Mohinder´s eyes hadn´t changed a bit since they´d left New York. The same way he´d looked at Sylar all the time as long as they´d been at the Company´s facility. The same way he´d looked at him, when he´d come in the morning to get him for another round of torture. Torture that he´d called scientific research.

For a moment, Sylar wondered about the same question, Mohinder´d asked him. Why didn´t he kill him? Or at least pay him back what he´d done to him over the last few months? He could have. He still could. But he also knew that it wouldn´t change a thing if he did. Torturing Mohinder now wouldn´t make the last few months go away. Maybe he would feel better, maybe he would even enjoy it. There had been a time when he wouldn´t have hesitated at all to go for it. But that had been a long time ago. It had been before he´d learned a little something that was called empathy.

"You are aware of the fact that we didn´t see each other for years?" he asked the Indian scientist, who still looked at him as if he was ready to stab him with the butter knife, right here and now. "A lot of things happened in that time."

"A lot of things happened to all of us." Mohinder replied unimpressed.

"Exactly." Sylar said. "That´s my point. We all have been through so much. It changed us all."

"Not enough as it seems." Mohinder replied. His voice was still cold and hard. "I know about every single person you killed since our last encounter."

Sylar frowned astounded. "You kept track on that?" he asked.

"I barely had a choice." Mohinder hissed. "It was all over the news, every time you did it again."

Sylar raised his brows, thinking for a moment. "Not all of them made the news." he mentioned.

"You see. That´s exactly what I mean." Mohinder hissed. "And you expect me to see anything else in you, than a cold blooded murderer?"

"This is really all you see, isn´t it?" Sylar asked, getting defensive. "Yes, I´ve killed people, but that wasn´t my fault. It´s the Hunger. I can´t control it."

"You don´t want to."

"There was a time when I´d wanted to." Sylar replied. "Briefly. But after Claire took that jump that night, things went downhill very fast. She tried to open up to the world but her father wouldn´t let her. He covered everything up, made her look like a teenager who desperately wanted attention."

"I know. I´ve seen the news." Mohinder said. "What has that to do with what you are?"

"They came to arrest me." Sylar explained. "It didn´t matter for them what I´d done, that I´d helped to save all these people. They tried to lock me away again."

"And you couldn´t allow that." Mohinder guessed, his voice full of irony.

"No. It wasn´t only the arrest I was running away from. It was the hate. For a while I´d believed that there could be redemption. That there could be forgiveness. But it turned out that there isn´t any."

"And you are surprised?"

"I´ve tried to be a better person." Sylar burst out. "I tried to fit in."

"By stealing another man´s life." Mohinder shouted back at him.

For a moment the two of them looked around, suddenly aware of the eyes that lay on them.

"All the things that I´ve done …" Sylar went on, much quieter now. "The good things …"

"Don´t change the body count." Mohinder replied, also quiet but slicing as a knife.

Sylar just looked at him, unable to give another response. It was pretty clear that there was nothing he could say to change the course of this conversation. The waitress came over to them, carrying two plates of ham and eggs. She threw them a hesitant glance while she placed the food in front of them. Mohinder gave her a polite smile and thanked her. She nodded and went away again, back behind her counter.

Sylar and Mohinder looked at each other in silence. Eventually Sylar lowered his gaze.

"I guess you´re right." he said at last. "Sorry that I brought this up. It was a mistake." He got up.

"Where are you going?" Mohinder asked alarmed.

"Don´t worry." Sylar said. "I´m not going to take out my frustration on the waitress or something like that." he tried to smirk but failed pathetically. "I´ll be right back." he said and left for the restroom.

Mohinder looked after him until he vanished behind the door. Why was he feeling guilty all the sudden? What he´d said was true. All of it. And he had no reason to be sorry for saying it. He looked down on the food before him, and for a moment he mused if there was a chance of it being poisoned. But of course that was stupid. For two reasons. The food had been made by someone they didn´t even know and second Sylar´d already stated that he needed him alive, to plant the computer virus. After a moment of hesitation, Mohinder started to eat. Sylar´d been right about one thing. He would need his strength.

**...**

Henry entered the viewing room, joining Shawn and Juliet who were still watching the interrogation that went on on the other side of the mirror.

"Is he talking?" Henry asked them.

"He only keeps asking for his lawyer." Shawn told him, looking grimly at the man on the other side.

Henry just shrugged. "Told you."

Together they watched how Lassiter finally gave up on the suspect and let an officer bring him back to his cell. After he´d given the order to bring him the second suspect, he came out, joining them. He didn´t say anything, only looked at them in frustration.

"Our other friend should be a little more interesting." Juliet promised and showed Lassiter a file, containing all that she´d found while he´d questioned the hitman. He looked the information over and threw her a look. She gave him the matching look in response.

"Well, that could be interesting." Lassiter commented. He turned to Henry again. "Anything I should know about his phone call?"

"Oh, sure." Henry said. "Quite a lot actually. He seems to know what happened to your two other suspects for a start. Or at least he has an idea. He was talking to someone named Claire. I doubt that she is his lawyer. That´s all I could hear. He was awfully careful to speak quietly."

"Claire, hm?" Lassiter exchanged another glance with Juliet. "All right, then." he grabbed the file tighter and as soon as the suspect was placed in the room, he went in. This could be an interesting conversation.


	8. Conspiracy Theories

**Conspiracy Theories**

The young man sat behind the table and looked expectantly at Lassiter when he entered the interrogation room. His eyes were the careful and aware eyes of a man that has something to hide. Lassiter knew that gaze. He´d seen it many times. And he´d broken it many times.

"All right Mr. Petrelli from New York." he said. "Why don´t you start by telling me what happened last night in the hospital?"

Petrelli shrugged as if there was nothing about the whole thing that everybody hadn´t heard already. "I went into the ER to exchange the surgery tools, when I was attacked by that man in a doctor´s disguise." he said but Lassiter already interrupted him there.

"How about you start a little earlier in the whole story." he suggested. "For example what happened before the attack."

"What do you mean?"

"I want to know what happened to Shawn Spencer." Lassiter demanded. "He was dead. I saw him. The doctors declared him dead and one should think that they know what they´re talking about."

Petrelli shrugged again. "Obviously not always." he said.

Lassiter didn´t blink. He got something out of his pocket and held it up. It was a bagged syringe with dried blood on it.

"We found this on the crime scene." he said. "A syringe with blood in it. Empty. The hospital staff told us that they don´t know this syringe. It has your fingerprints on it. But the hospital staff doesn´t know you either."

"I don´t know anything about it." Petrelli claimed.

"What did you give him? Some wonder drug?"

"I said I don´t know anything about that."

Lassiter just stared at the man, nodding. "I see." He picked up the file. "Maybe you know about something else. Guess what my partner found out about you. Seems a Peter Petrelli from New York was involved in an incident that happened in Central Park New York, not quite a year ago. A festival that drew an enormous crowd …" Lassiter pretended to read it right off the file. "…was shaken by an earthquake. New York is not quite known as an earthquake region, is it?"

Another shrug. "Nature has its own laws."

"It sure has. There have been a lot of theories about this. A gas main rupture – that was the official statement – overloading equipment and even, oh, look at this … supernatural explanations."

No reaction on the other side of the table. Lassiter picked up a picture. "Do you know who Claire Bennet is?" he asked, showing a picture to Petrelli, of a blond girl in a cheerleader uniform.

No reaction.

"She was the girl who jumped off that ferris wheel, wasn´t she?" Lassiter went on. "How high was that? Hundred meters? She hit the ground and when the camera was on her, her wounds vanished as if they were wished away. Quite similar to what happened to my colleague´s wounds by the way."

"This footage was proven fake." Petrelli stated.

"Was it?" Lassiter replied. "Don´t get me wrong, usually I wouldn´t even doubt that. A girl that regenerates herself like an alien lizard in a bad science fiction film? Come on. But unfortunately I don´t have the luxury of simply doubting this anymore. Because you see, we recently had some experience here with a man named Sylar. Ever heard that name?"

"What if I had?"

"He killed some people we knew. Threatened my partner. I shot him. Several times. The last time I shot him right between the eyes and he still lived. I don´t know about you, but I did some reconsideration after I saw this. I thought to myself, maybe it is not that impossible that there are things we can´t explain. Maybe there _are_ supernatural people out there. Or maybe supernatural is a little too fantastic for you, so let´s call it instead … let´s say … genetically enhanced? You know anything about that?"

Still Petrelli kept this stoic face of his. "No." he said.

"Oh, come on. That´s a cool theory, you´ve got to admit that. Secret government experiments, trying to advance people, Captain America like? Trying to create a better kind of humans? The perfect soldier perhaps?"

"There is no such thing." Petrelli claimed.

"Then what?" Lassiter demanded to know.

"Nothing. You have too much fantasy, detective."

"The fact that I shot a man in the face and he lived was no fantasy." Lassiter stated. "The fact that this man changed his form into my partner, was no fantasy. And it surely was no fantasy that Shawn Spencer came back from the dead after you were in a room with him. These people who killed him broke into my partner´s apartment. I want to know who they are and I want to know what happened to them after I arrested them. You know where they are. Tell me."

"I don´t know what you are talking about."

"You´re lying." Lassiter hit his hand on the table.

"Prove it." Petrelli shot back at him, unimpressed by his outburst.

Lassiter smiled at this stubborn guy on the other side of the table. "Oh, I will." he promised. "I will tear open your arrogant …"

In this moment the door was opened and Shawn walked in. "Lassie." he addressed and startled the detective out of his flow.

"What … Spencer, what the hell?" Lassiter cried.

Shawn glanced at the suspect before he faced Lassiter. "May I have a try here?" he asked.

Lassiter was about to object, to tell him he could handle an interrogation very well on his own. But then he saw the expression in Shawn´s face, so different from what he was used to see in the fake psychic´s eyes. He was really asking politely, not just claiming the stage as usual. That was strange. It was serious. And it disturbed Lassiter.

Eventually, when he found himself lack of another option, he nodded. He didn´t leave the room without throwing one last threatening glance at the suspect though. Shawn took the place Lassiter´d just abandoned.

"Hey." he greeted the young orderly. "Remember me?"

He received a nod, combined with a face that said subtly: Of course I remember. Shawn nodded.

"I just wanted to say thank you." he said. "You saved my life. I surely wouldn´t sit here if it wasn´t for you. No matter how you did it. So … thanks."

The stoic and hard expression of the other man softened a little and he nodded at him, again.

"But I´d also like to know why." Shawn went on.

"What?"

"Why did you do it?" Shawn specified his question. "I mean … We don´t know each other. You don´t even work for the hospital I was in. And I´m pretty sure that not every patient there gets such a treatment. So … why me?"

"I can´t talk about that." Peter said.

"Oh, come on. I think I´ve got a right to know that." Shawn cried.

The other man seemed to struggle with himself. He wanted to answer, Shawn could see that. He just had to overcome something that was holding him back so far.

"You were not supposed to die." Peter finally said.

"I wasn´t supposed to die." Shawn repeated slowly. "Then what? They were after Jules, weren´t they?"

"What? No. No, why should they …?" the eyes of the young orderly dropped, thoughtfully. "Is she …?"

"No."

Of course this response was much too fast to be convincing. Shawn could see clearly that Peter didn´t believe him. Something happened in his face that spoke of a sudden realization. But he pulled it back and gratefully didn´t try to poke any further.

"They came for you." he stated matter of factly. "They probably watched you over the day. That´s how they knew where you were. That´s how they work."

Shawn felt all the muscles in his body tighten. "Why me?" he asked.

"Because you´re known to be a psychic."

Shawn chuckled. "I can honestly say that this is the first time someone wants to kill me for that." he stated. "Lassie´s threats to shoot me don´t count."

"They tried." Peter insisted. "And when they failed they tried to make sure they succeeded. You need to watch out. They´ll not let go of this."

"Are you kidding?" Shawn asked and tried to laugh. But the face on the other side of the table was too serious to keep the laughter up. "Who are they?" Shawn wanted to know. "You know that, don´t you?"

"I can´t talk about it." Peter repeated again.

"Of course you can. You already started. Don´t stop now."

"You have no idea what you would get yourself into if I told you." Peter said.

"Hey, these guys tried to kill me." Shawn cried. "They even succeeded. I´m already in it. And if I believe what you tell me, they will try again. So give me something we can use to stop them."

"You can´t stop them." Peter foretold him.

"What if we could?" Shawn asked. "You shouldn´t underestimate us. Look at our files. Do some research. We managed a lot of impossible stuff over the years. We stopped Sylar." he added and finally seemed to hit a mark.

"You really met him?" Peter asked curious.

"I did. He tried to kill me too." Shawn told him and spread his arms. "I´m still here." He closed his arms again. "You know the guy, huh?"

"I do." Peter admitted but there was something in his face that didn´t want to be spoken out loud. "He killed my brother." he said at last.

"Sorry about that." Shawn said and Peter nodded, gratefully. "But when you know Sylar, you must know what all this is about." Shawn went on. "Come on, dude, you must tell me. These guys will come back and next time they might kill someone for good."

Again there was this inner struggle in the face of the man on the other side of the table. Shawn knew that he almost had him.

"You can tell me." he assured him. "No matter what it is. We won´t call you crazy, I promise."

**...**

"This guy is absolutely crazy." Henry bellowed when they were back at the bullpen.

"Dad." Shawn cried. "I promised him, we wouldn´t say that."

"I don´t care what you promised, Shawn. This guy is nuts. Secret government agencies hunting people with magic abilities that live amongst normal people? Rebel groups and cover ups? Come on."

"Not magic." Shawn corrected. "It´s some sort of a genetic thing. Like a mutation."

"Oh, you mean like X-Men?" Henry asked sarcastically.

"You saw what Sylar could do." Shawn argued, slowly losing his patience.

"That doesn´t mean that this guy in interrogation room A is sober." Henry argued.

"I don´t say that he is sober." Lassiter chipped in. "But what he says makes sense in an obscure and totally twisted way. Look at this." he was pointing at his computer screen and when they gathered around him, a youtube video was playing on the detective´s screen.

It showed a ferris wheel at night, and when the camera zoomed in one could make out a slim figure climbing up the ladder. The title of the video read "freak-girl attempts suicide". After a while the figure in the video reached the highest top of the ferris wheel and the camera zoomed in even more. It was a blonde girl who stood there, on the small platform and she actually stood there as if she wanted to jump. For a moment her gaze was on something – someone? – that was off camera. Then she just jumped.

There were shouts and gasps of shock in the background of the video, while she fell all the way down, hitting the ground, face down and arms spread. A classic suicide jump. Juliet gasped in shock. She´d researched for Lassiter that something like this had happened but actually seeing it was a different thing. Oh god, she´d never believed that there actually had been a suicide like that. And how the hell could people put something like that on the internet?

But then the girl in the video started to move again and stood up, while the camera ran towards her, shaking violently until it was steady again and close enough to see the girl clearly. Her shoulder was visibly dislocated and the only thing she did about it was grabbing her own arm and switching it back into place. After that was done, she looked into the camera, a look of pure determination in her eyes.

"My name is Claire Bennet and that was attempt number …" she stopped, hesitating and while she was still thinking, a deep cut that ran over her right cheek started to heal, all on its own.

"Well." she said, smiling. "I kinda lost count."

With that the video ended and the screen suggested a bunch of other videos with related contents. U.F.O.s over Jerusalem. Killer-ants attack farm in Africa. I met Jesus in my dream – the end is near.

Shawn pointed at the screen, giving his father a face as if to say: See? Henry made a face in response to show him that he didn´t see. Not at all.

"This video is obviously a fake." he stated. "Just like all that other stuff."

"Okay." Juliet spoke up. "Let´s just _assume_ for a second that this is real. What can we do?"

"Against hitmen that are operating under the protection of a secret government agency?" Gus asked with raised eyebrows, joining the gathering after he came back from the vending machine. "Because that´s what these people were." he said very seriously, unwrapping his candy bar.

"Dude, how can you eat now?" Shawn cried.

"Chocolate is good for the nerves." Gus stated and bit the bar, almost desperately.

"All right, if these people would really be with the government …" Henry agreed on that part. "Then believe me, you don´t wanna mess with them."

"They wouldn´t dare to come after police detectives." Lassiter insisted.

"You think so? The way I see it, they already did. Maybe this guy Peter is right. Maybe we can´t fight them."

"Would you prefer to do nothing?"

"If you have any ideas where to get an army from, I´m all ears, Carlton."

Shawn stood between the two fighting men and his ears were ringing under their yells. He felt sick all the sudden and started to sway. Gus and Juliet simultaneously reached out a hand to stabilize him.

"Shawn, are you all right?" Juliet cried concerned.

He opened his eyes again and tried to focus. "Sure." he said. "I´m just a little dizzy."

"Of course he´s feeling dizzy." Henry stated. "He´s been shot."

"No, dad." Shawn spoke up. "I wasn´t shot. I was killed. And then I was shot. That is kinda confusing. Anyway. I´m really sorry but the nearer than near death experience left me a little shaken." He took a breath to stop the nausea from getting back to him after this outburst. "I need a splash of water in my face." he said and attempted to head for the restroom.

Gus attempted to follow, to give him a hand, but Shawn refused. Under different circumstances Gus might have ignored that, but a look into this serious face of his friend, made him shut up.

Shawn managed it to walk straight, as long as his friends could still see him. But as soon as the door was closed behind him, he had to hurry to hold onto the sink. His head was spinning like a wheel of fortune at the carnival and he had to pull together all his willpower to not to vomit into the sink.

When he was sure he wouldn´t faint, he dared to take one hand off the sink, to turn on the water.

He splashed it into his face. The cool sensation ran over his skin and eventually behind his eyes. It helped. A little. When he opened his eyes again, he could see the sink clearly again.

Still he felt as if he could throw up. What he would throw up was beyond him though, since he hadn´t even touched his ham and eggs. With a heavy sight he pulled himself together and straightened up, to throw a glance in the mirror. He saw his reflection … and a shock ran through his mind. The face that looked at him wasn´t his.

His body instinctively reacted along with his mind and Sylar skipped back, away from the mirror. His back collided with the wall and somehow his feet lost their connection with the ground. With a groan of surprise, he went down to the floor. What the hell?

He took a moment to reorient himself. He was sitting on a tiled floor. He was in the restroom, in a diner somewhere near the border to California. His hands and face were still wet from the water, what was still running by the way. What had happened? Had he really seen what he´d believed he saw in the mirror? Was he dreaming?

But no. No, he was pretty sure he was awake. The dreams he used to have about Shawn Spencer had felt different. And when he touched his face now, it felt much like his own. Like Sylar. Maybe he´d imagined it. Maybe his mind started to play tricks on him. Oh god, had it already come that far? But that would be better than to consider the possibility that he´d really seen this reflection of another man.

He got up and hurried out of the restroom, intentionally not looking into the mirror again. But even that sort of escape was not good enough. Outside he passed a vitrine, with cakes and muffins. He glanced at the reflection the glass provided and it was still Shawn Spencer who looked back at him. No. That wasn´t possible. In his dreams maybe, but not when he was awake. He was in control of his shapeshifting. Things like that wouldn´t happen anymore.

His eyes searched the place for something to hold onto, reality, some sort of help. Everything was just as he´d left it a few minutes ago. Mohinder was still sitting in that corner booth where he´d left him. He hurried over to him. He needed to know if he saw Sylar in him or Shawn.

When he sat down opposite of him, Mohinder looked up from his meal, startled.

"What is it?" he demanded to know.

Sylar studied his face for a moment, searching for any kind of indication that the scientist might see any other person than him. But the annoyance he saw in the other man´s face was too familiar to be meant for anyone else.

"All right, I´m obviously still looking like me." he said, a little more relieved.

"What are you talking about?" Mohinder asked.

"My reflection." Sylar said, unnerved. "It´s not mine." He spotted the silver table display and saw it again. That face that wasn´t supposed to be there. He grabbed the metallic thing and showed it to Mohinder. "I see a face in there that is not mine." he told him.

The Indian scientist looked at him as if he were crazy. Probably because he was acting like he was crazy. Sylar put the table display down.

"I feel as if I´m losing my mind." he whispered, more to himself than to Mohinder.

"You needed quite a while to realize that." was the sarcastic answer.

Sylar stared at the man before him in disbelieve. "You think this is a joke?" he snapped and actually made the smile on Mohinder´s face disappear with his outburst.

For a moment he wanted to say more, to explain what he was going through, but then he decided against it. It was no use to explain something to someone who didn´t want to understand.

So eventually he got up and ran out. Maybe if he would leave that place, it would get better. But how was a man supposed to escape his own reflection? They were everywhere. In the windows of the diner, in the glass that shielded the public roadmaps, even in the cars. He tried not to look at them but it was no use. The reflection drew his eyes at them. A very unmistakable and very confused and frightened looking Shawn Spencer. He just couldn´t look away.

A hand fell down on his shoulder and forced him around. "Where do you think you´re doing?" Mohinder shouted at him and all the sudden the anger in the scientist´s face got reflected in Sylar´s mind. He pushed the doctor away.

"What do _you_ care?" he shouted back at him. "Seriously, I tried to be patient with you but slowly you start to get on my nerves, Doc. All I asked for was a little understanding on your side. Is that too much to ask?"

"You are a murderer." Mohinder replied unimpressed. "You don´t get the luxury of something like _understanding_."

"I´m so fed up with you." Sylar hissed and tried to grab Mohinder. But before he even got a grip of him, he was grabbed himself and a moment later he found himself flying through the air, until he collided with the backwall of the diner. The surface cracked under the impact and so did something in Sylar´s back. He dropped to the ground and panting with anger looked up at Mohinder, twenty feet away.

Sylar smirked for a moment and then reached out his hand. Mohinder got pulled in without any chance of resistance until Sylar had his hand on his throat. With a swift motion he swirled him around, pushing him against the wall.

"Now you really start to push my button." he hissed.

But the table was turned around once again when Mohinder raised his knee, kicking him in the stomach with such force that Sylar lost all the air from his lungs. He doubled over, desperately trying to suck in some air. Mohinder didn´t wait for him to come around. He walked up to him and grabbed his hair, to make him look up at him.

"Talking about pushing buttons." he said and showed Sylar the remote. He pushed the button on it and Sylar´s head started to scream, under the pain of inaudible signals. "I refilled the batteries while you were in the restroom." Mohinder informed him.

Sylar screamed. He reached out his hand and the remote was thrown out of Mohinder´s hand, to shatter on the wall. Mohinder stared at it in shock, one second too long to see Sylar´s next attack coming. He was pushed against the wall once again and before he had a chance to fight back, he had Sylar´s fist in his face.

"You´re really starting to piss me of, doctor." Sylar hissed, through gritted teeth.

Mohinder grabbed Sylar´s wrist, stopping his fist in midair, inches before his own face. Sylar stared at it briefly, before he tried to force it further. Mohinder kept holding it, for another moment and eventually sent the hit that had been meant for him, back at Sylar. The killer stumbled back and Mohinder followed, dealing out blows of his own now.

"You´re a murderer!" he shouted and hit him with even greater force. "You killed my father!" Punch. "You killed my cousin!" Punch. "Now I´ll kill you."

He was about to punch him again, when Sylar swirled around, much faster than expected. Mohinder felt the impact, hit the ground. Fists were raining down on him, in a rage that didn´t seem human. He tried to block them, more or less successful, until he got a chance to hit back. Somehow he made the killer lose his rhythm and eventually rolled him around, so he was the one on top. Only that it didn´t last long. Sylar wouldn´t let go of his collar and the roll around just went on and threw Mohinder to the ground again. Again he was hit by a fist.

Mohinder pushed and rolled over, once more and this time he started to hit the face beneath him instantly. No mercy left that held him back. And he wouldn´t stop, until that man, the man that had killed his father, his cousin and so many others, was lying completely still.

Eventually Mohinder stopped to pummel him, staring at the dented face. He´d broken Sylar´s cheekbone, pretty badly.

For a moment the rage he´d felt was gone, replaced by pure shock over what he´d done. While he looked at it, the wound began to heal. Sylar grimaced at the pain it caused and when it was done, he looked up, at Mohinder. First with surprise, and then with new flashing anger. He grabbed his collar, once again and once again Mohinder was forced to defend himself.

"Who´s the monster now, doctor?" Sylar shouted into his face and nailed him to the ground once more. "Did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed to torture me? Did you?"

Mohinder expected Sylar to pay him back the punches he´d just dealt out to him. But instead he just held him, on his collar, staring down on him in his rage. And in this moment Mohinder suddenly realized what he´d done. If Sylar wouldn´t be able to regenerate, he would have killed him with those punches. And yes, he would have enjoyed it. Not because he would have taken revenge for his father and cousin, but because of the pure act of it. Because he´d wanted it. He´d wanted to see this man dead. He´d wanted to kill him with his bare hands, feeling the life being forced out of him. And in this moment he was aware of the blood on his knuckles. Sylar´s blood. The blood that he´d beaten out of him. It was still warm.

"Oh, my god." he breathed.

Over him Sylar frowned, startled – only for one second, before the sound of an engine drew both of their attentions. A black car had just pulled into the parking lot. It came to a sudden stop, at their level and a moment later three men with guns jumped out of it.

Sylar immediately let go of Mohinder and struggled to his feet again. The scientist got dragged up along with him, be it by accident or intentionally, he didn´t know. But when the men began to shoot, they were already around the corner, running to find cover.

After a few meters, Sylar stopped and turned around to wait for them. Mohinder stopped too, far too scared to realize what he was doing, that it would be better for him to keep running instead. He watched Sylar reaching out his hand and when the three men came around the corner, they were thrown back and through the air.

"The car." Sylar called over his shoulder, dragging Mohinder out of his paralysis.

The scientist started to move again. When he threw a glance over his shoulder, Sylar was right behind him. He wasn´t surprised to find the doors of their car swinging open and the engine coming to life, a moment before they actually reached it. While Mohinder jumped behind the wheel, Sylar reached out his hand for the black car of the Company. The four wheels exploded almost simultaneously, leaving the car useless for their persecutors. Then he jumped into the passenger seat. Mohinder hit the accelerator before he could even close the door.

"They found us." Mohinder cried when they were back on the street, racing away from that diner. "How did they find us?"

"Don´t know." Sylar replied, still panting. "But one thing´s for sure. The whole thing is getting serious by now. Really serious. We need to hurry. I have the feeling that we´re running out of time."


	9. Blurred Visions

**Blurred Visions**

Gus slowly opened the door to the restroom, peeking in. He didn´t want to rush his friend but he was in there for ten minutes now and even a depressed Shawn usually didn´t hide that long. At least not in the bathroom. In a candy store maybe. Or a pet shop. But not in the bathroom. Gus cleared his throat to announce his coming.

"Shawn?" he called. "Shawn, you´ve been in there for ten minutes. Come on. Whatcha doing? Refreshing your make up?" He waited for a comeback to this admittedly poor joke, but there was none. "Shawn?"

He opened the door fully and spotted his friend, lying on the floor before the sinks.

"SHAWN!" he rushed in to his side. "Shawn, oh my god. Wake up. Shawn."

He took him up and started to pad his cheek. A second later he lay him back down and rushed to the door, opening it just enough to yell out: "HELP!"

As soon as that was done he was back at Shawn´s side, bowing over him. When he tried to lift him up again, he suddenly had Shawn´s fist in his face. Totally baffled by that unexpected attack, he fell back, landing on his butt.

Shawn sat up, conscious but obviously disoriented. He looked around with a confused and sleepy frown.

"Shawn!" Gus shouted angry. "What the hell are you doing? You must be out of your damn mind."

Shawn´s eyes finally focused on him. "Gus?" he asked.

The door behind Gus was busted and Henry, Juliet and Lassiter rushed in.

"What the hell happened here?" Henry barked. Jules fell to her knees next to Shawn.

"That´s a damn good question." Gus cried, massaging his jaw. "I found him on the floor, unconscious. And when I tried to help him, he punched me in the face."

"Seriously?" Lassiter asked and couldn´t hide a tiny smirk that rushed over his face.

"Shawn, are you all right?" Juliet asked.

Instead of answering her question, Shawn looked around, as if trying to remember something. Maybe how he´d gotten to the floor in the first place. Then he suddenly struggled to stand up and stared into the mirror. Juliet kept holding onto his shoulder, worried he might faint again after standing up so fast. His gaze he threw at his own reflection didn´t help to ease her mind either.

"Shawn, what is it?" she asked.

He just stared at her, and the others, before he looked at the mirror again. "I believe I just had a vision or something." he said.

"Spencer …" Lassiter growled.

"No, seriously!" Shawn cried. "Just before … when I looked into the mirror … I saw Sylar in there."

"What?"

"It was … like in Quantum Leap. I saw his face where mine should have been. Oh, god. I still do look like myself, don´t I?" He touched his face to make sure it was still his.

"Of course you look like you." Henry snorted. "Don´t be ridiculous. You imagined something. Or you dreamed it after you fainted. You lost a lot of blood lately, that´s not an uncommon reaction."

"Are you kidding me?" Shawn cried. "What is a common reaction to being resurrected?"

"I just meant that you are weakened." Henry replied. "You need to rest."

Shawn threw another glance at his reflection, which was the same as he always saw it. Handsome and catching. Minus the dark rings under his eyes and the just recently resurrected spirit. Had he really just dreamed that? Now that he turned his mind into that direction, he recalled that he had indeed dreamed just now. He´d dreamed to be in a fistfight, what was silly because he barely had fistfights. Ever. He was more the negotiating type. But in this dream it had felt so totally real. The way these other dreams, where he´d been in Sylar´s place, had felt real.

"Come on, kid." Henry took Shawn from Juliet. It was like he was handed over from one caretaker to the other. "Gus´ll bring you home." his father said and his best friend nodded in agreement.

"I´ll assign two officers to come with you." Juliet said. "If it is true what this Peter Petrelli said, you´ll still be in danger."

"But so are you." Shawn argued weakly.

"That´s why she´ll get protection too." Lassiter agreed and when Juliet threw him a glance, he added: "You said, you wanted to listen."

It seemed to work. She lowered her gaze in an almost guilty way and nodded. Henry led Shawn out of the restroom, the others following them behind. "Bring him to my place, Gus." Henry said. "I´ll be there as soon as my shift´s over. I get you guys two officers who´ll follow you." With that he was gone.

"Sure you are okay?" Juliet asked him one more time. But before he had a chance to say anything, they were disturbed by Lassiter´s angry shouting.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he cried.

They turned around to him, startled, but he wasn´t even looking at them. His gaze was fixed on the desk sergeant and when they followed his gaze, they could see why. Peter Petrelli was standing there. Next to him was another man, a little older, a pair of spectacles on his nose and a lot more formal than Petrelli. He obviously just signed the papers for his release.

Immediately Lassiter stormed over to them.

"What is going on here?" he demanded an explanation.

"I tell you what´s going on, detective." the man with Petrelli said. "My client is leaving."

"Your client." Lassiter repeated and studied the face of the man before him. Mid forties, short blond hair, a pair of horn rimmed glasses on his nose. "Wait a second." the detective spoke. "Don´t I know you from somewhere?"

"I think I´d remember it if we´d met before." was the dry answer.

"This is my suspect." Lassiter stated. "I´m not done with him yet."

"As far as I´m concerned you are." the other man replied.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Lassiter snapped but stopped himself, realizing something. "You are one of them, aren´t you?"

"Excuse me." the guy with the glasses smiled. "One of who?"

"He told us everything about you." Lassiter said. "You´re not taking him with you."

The fake lawyer turned around to his client, eying him with raised brows. Petrelli shrugged defensively. "I had to warn them." he stated.

"I don´t know what my client told you exactly …" the lawyer said, turning back to Lassiter.

"Well, for starters, he told us that someone would come to kill him." Lassiter stated.

"I see. Well, that´s not quite unexpected. But I assure you, I´m not a hitman. I´m just a lawyer and insurance salesman." He handed him a card that read Noah Buttler, Primasave Insurance and Legal Representative. "You may check my credentials too if you like. Our office is in Los Angeles."

"Then what are you doing here in Santa Barbara?" Lassiter asked suspicious.

"The family of my client had a feeling that he could be up to something. So I traveled here to get him out before he got himself in too much trouble. You see my client has problems with his mental health. He´s under the delusion that he has to save the world and I would be grateful if you wouldn´t feed into his paranoia."

"You son of a bitch." Petrelli burst out and would have grabbed his lawyer if it hadn´t been for the officer who stood nearby.

"Peter, please be reasonable." the older man emphasized and gave his client a strong glance. It worked. Peter stopped struggling. His gaze was still full of anger though. After another moment of holding his gaze, the lawyer turned back to Lassiter.

"I busted the bail for my client, detective." he repeated the facts. "And now we would like to leave."

"Not so fast." Lassiter demanded. "Your client might have some delusions. But the man we arrested with him is no delusion. Neither are the men that attacked my partner. Something is going on here and I want to know what it is."

"Nothing is going on, detective." Mr. Buttler assured him. "Only some unfortunate coincidences that fit into the paranoid ideas of my client."

"Noah, I swear to you if you …" Peter cried but the officer held him back once more.

"Peter!" Noah shushed him like a strict father. "I´m here to help you. I expect a little cooperation."

"Sir, if you don´t want to go with him, you only need to say it." Lassiter told Peter.

The young man looked at his lawyer and his lawyer looked right back at him. Something seemed to happen between the two of them, something that none of the outsiders could quite grip. But in the end Peter relaxed, a little, and gave in.

"No, it´s all right." he said. His expression of anger hadn´t changed.

"Are you sure?" Lassiter asked.

Peter was still staring at his lawyer. He nodded. "Yeah. I´m sure."

Lassiter stared at the two men for another minute but in the end he had no choice. There was nothing he could do right now. The so called lawyer – Lassiter was sure that something was pretty fishy about this guy – took his so called client and they left. Before they were out of the door he could hear them start arguing.

"Come on, Peter." the older one hissed. "I understand that my daughter is mad with me but please don´t be as stubborn as she is."

"I´m not stubborn." the younger one replied. "You had no right to …" and then they were out of the door.

**...**

The blue car passed the sign that read welcome to California and quickly left it behind. Not too quickly. So far they could afford it to keep the speed limit. They even had to. Being stopped for breaking it wouldn´t do them any good in their try to escape their pursuers. And they were sure that they were still there. Just because they hadn´t caught up with them yet, didn´t mean that they´d given up. They would never give up.

"Maybe we should have changed the car more often." Mohinder mused.

Sylar looked at him startled. The scientist had dragged him out of his own musing.

"Maybe that´s how they found us." Mohinder explained, obviously not happy himself about the fact that he´d addressed the killer in the first place.

"You were against stealing too many cars." Sylar recalled, trying to sound nonchalant with his comment.

"We could have bought them at car parks." the scientist replied, shaking his head.

"Sure. I forgot how wealthy you are."

Mohinder grimaced over that silly joke. His cheek protested against the movement and he hissed, in pain. He carefully touched the bone beneath his skin. It didn´t seem to be broken but that didn´t change the pain it caused him.

"What´s the matter?" Sylar asked, honestly surprised about Mohinder´s reaction. One glance from the scientist made him remember. "Oh. Right, that was me."

"Of course it was you." Mohinder said. "What did you think?"

Sylar didn´t respond immediately. He looked out of the window for a moment, before he turned back to Mohinder.

"I know it doesn´t mean very much." he said, with a face that made clear that he´d rather not mention it. "But I´m sorry … for that."

Now it was Mohinder who needed a moment. "I broke your cheekbone." he said at last, as if that would explain everything.

"Guess we´re even then, huh?"

"Not really."

"What, you´d like to kill one of my relatives before you´d call it that?" Sylar offered. But his smirk vanished when he looked into Mohinder´s dark glare. "Sorry. I suck at witty comebacks."

The look in the other man´s face changed all the sudden, to an expression Sylar couldn´t quite name. Especially since Mohinder turned away from him, far too quickly to read in it. It almost felt like being regarded with the silent treatment or something as silly as that. Because that was what it was. Silly.

"What is it?" Sylar demanded. "I already said I´m sorry."

"That´s not it." Mohinder said gruffly, not looking at him. "I accept the apology. That´s not it." After another moment, he even cracked a half smile. "You´ve tried to kill me so many times by now, it really doesn´t matter."

Sylar chuckled, softly. "You might not believe that, but I never really tried to kill you." he stated.

"No?"

"No. I never would have gained anything from your death, so why should I?"

"Because you wouldn´t be able to stop it." came the answer, a little too quickly and a little too heated. "Because that´s what happens when the monster in you breaks loose. It wants to kill and when that happens, the human part of the soul is just too weak to resist."

Sylar just stared at the Indian scientist next to him, brows raised in astonishment.

"Wow." he managed after a while. "So you do understand it after all." He got no answer. "Great." he said, watching the scientist´s reaction closely. "Then why do I have the feeling that you´re not talking about me?"

"I don´t know what you´re talking about." Mohinder claimed.

"I think, you do." Sylar replied but the doctor remained as stoic as before. "It´s okay, Mohinder." the murderer assured him. "I´ve seen it in your eyes long before you were ready to accept it yourself. I´ve seen it that night at Pinehearst. When _you_ tried to kill _me_."

"I was under the influence of a drug that had changed my personality." Mohinder immediately denied what Sylar tried to say. "My body, my whole metabolism …"

"No no no." Sylar replied calmly, smiling just barely. "This mutation you brought on yourself had nothing to do with it. It might have lured it out but what you let out back then had always been inside of you. Believe me, I know."

Mohinder clung to the steering wheel, stubbornly avoiding Sylar´s gaze. His jaw was clenched and he was taking deep and slow breaths, probably to calm himself down.

"I know it´s not easy." Sylar told him gently. "It´s always hard to look into the mirror and see someone you never wanted to be. But it´s the only way to fight that monster. By accepting it."

"You mean by becoming a murderer like you?" Mohinder snapped. "No thanks."

"You wouldn´t become a murderer, Mohinder." Sylar replied unimpressed by his companions outburst. "You wouldn´t do the same things, that I´ve done."

"I almost killed you earlier." Mohinder recalled.

Sylar cocked his head, smiling. "Point taken. But that doesn´t really count in my book."

"So? Why not?"

"You knew I would survive those punches. Come on, Mohinder, if it had been anyone else, you wouldn´t have gone that far."

"You have no idea what I would be capable of." Mohinder said gloomily.

Sylar looked at him musing for a moment, while the geneticist was still trying to avoid his gaze. "I think, I do." the killer said, at last.

"How?" Mohinder demanded to know. "How can you know that? Not even I know …"

"Because you´re better than me." Sylar said, without hesitation, startling Mohinder. "And you´re not controlled by the Hunger that drives me. You can …"

"Stop it." the scientist demanded and fixed his eyes on the street again. "Therapy session´s over. I don´t want any advices from you."

"All right." Sylar shrugged and shifted in his seat, until he was facing his window again. "Fair enough."

To drown the oppressive silence that followed their talk, Mohinder switched on the radio. Again far too quickly to let it look nonchalant. It just happened to play The Monster is Loose from Loaf Meat and Sylar couldn´t help but chuckled. One thing Mohinder didn´t understand was that this kind of therapy was never really over.

**...**

It had turned out to be McNab who was assigned along with another officer, to accompany Shawn and Gus on their way home. A pretty convenient arrangement in Shawn´s opinion. That way he would have some good company and not just two strange shadows following him around. And even better yet, Buzz had been there on top of that church. He knew what had happened there and he would understand what Shawn was talking about. And he would talk about it, that much was for sure. Something was going to happen around here very soon. He didn´t need to be a psychic to know that. They had to make plans. They had to prepare themselves for it, whatever it might be. But it would come and Shawn had no intention to die again.

The only thing that still bothered him were these damn dreams. They didn´t fit the pattern. What Peter had told them had not included Sylar in any way. Still his dreams had been about him all the time. Why? And added to that question came the fact that he´d started to wonder if the information Jules had gotten from that Dr. Suresh when she´d called him, were actually true. Who told them that Sylar really was still imprisoned? They didn´t know this dude Suresh. What if he´d lied for some reason? What if they´d tried to cover up the fact that Sylar indeed had escaped?

Shawn couldn´t help himself. It felt strange. As if Sylar was right behind the next corner, casually eating some ice-cream while watching them from out of the shadow. Shawn frowned. Ice-cream? Where did this come from? He had no idea. The only thing he knew was the last words, Sylar had said to him, that day when he´d visited him in his strange Silence of the Lambs cell.

_Keep watching out for me. You survived me once. No one survives me twice._

Gus threw him a silent glance while he steered the car through the city. Shawn noticed that glance but he didn´t want to talk to him. Not now. He was still too deep in his own thoughts. Later he could tell him what had been going on in his head, but right now … he had to come to a conclusion first.

Damn, yeah, a conclusion would be a great thing to have. Only that he had no idea how to get there. He didn´t even understand what the whole thing was about. Not even after what Peter had told them.

God, the whole thing was so complicated. Everybody seemed to work against everybody. And as if that wasn´t enough he couldn´t even decide, who of all these people he should consider the good guys.

Okay the bad guys were obviously the ones that had tried to kill them. Succeeded to kill him. He still had to remind himself of that fact. Somehow he was afraid that he would forget it if he wouldn´t recall it every five minutes. It wasn´t something that happened to you every day, that you died and came back to life. It was freaking ridiculous.

"Did the bible say anything about people who came back from the dead?" Shawn asked Gus, out of the blue. His friend looked at him, completely startled. "Well, you´re reading that stuff." Shawn explained his question. "Do you know any palm or however that´s called, that is about stuff like that?"

"You mean psalms." Gus corrected. "Well, there´s that story about Lazarus of course." he shrugged. "He was dead and Jesus said, Lazarus come forth."

"And?"

"He came back to life."

"Just like this?"

"It was a miracle, Shawn."

"Well, it definitely wasn´t a miracle what happened to me." Shawn replied.

"Maybe it was." Gus argued mildly, looking at his friend waiting.

Shawn snorted. "Are you serious?"

"If you don´t believe that there is anything behind all this, then why do you ask me what the bible says in the first place?" Gus countered.

"Dunno." Shawn shrugged. "Just … thought I make some conversation."

"Shawn, it´s completely natural that you contemplate your mortality after an experience like that." Gus tried to council his friend.

"If any of this makes any sense, shouldn´t I have seen a white light or something?" Shawn cried.

"You didn`t?"

"I´ve seen the gunfire flashing up before the bullets hit me."

Gus sighed heavily, gazing at his friend. "Well maybe it just wasn´t your time." he offered an explanation.

Shawn sighed too. "Yeah, maybe." he agreed and looked out of the window again. The explanation wasn´t an answer to anything but it was enough for now. He could live with that if that was what it came down to. Yeah, maybe he could live with that.

But he didn´t get a chance to keep thinking about this. While he was looking into a random distance to let his mind wander, an explosion happened down the street. A car had just gone off as far as he could see it. Next to him Gus´ head swirled around, eyes wide.

"Oh, my god." he gasped and hit the brakes.

Behind them McNab had to turn the wheel to avoid hitting them. Tires where squeaking – not just theirs. Many people had stopped their cars at what had just happened. Shawn opened his door to get out of the car and he could already hear the gunfire that was happening over there. Gus cried out for him to stay put for gods sake.

Usually Shawn wouldn´t even consider to listen to him but just ran in there to see what the hell was going on. But that had been before he´d been shot to death. Now he just stood there and watched McNab and the other officer running ahead with their guns drawn. He was sure Buzz had called in for backup before he´d gotten out, so he could be sure that reinforcement was on the way. Maybe even Lassie and his unerring Glock. For the first time in his life Shawn would be happy to wait for the real cops to come in and save the day.

And then he saw Peter and his lawyer running to take cover behind a parked car. The lawyer made it but Peter was just a few inches too slow. His body jerked two times when the bullets hit him in the back. A moment later the guy that had saved Shawn´s life was lying on his face and didn´t move anymore.


	10. Blood

**Blood**

The lawyer was shooting over his shoulder – since when did lawyers carry guns? – like in an action movie, while he and his client Peter were running to take cover. He didn´t hit anything but he made the bullets stop for a moment. And then, just as he took cover behind that car, Peter was hit. Two times in the back. He jerked at every impact and a moment later, he hit the ground and lay still.

"Oh, my god." Gus gasped next to Shawn.

The bullets were still raining down on the car behind which the lawyer was now bowed over Peter. Shawn looked ahead of the street and saw the culprits. Two guys in suits, like mafia hitmen. They came running for the two hidden men and would have reached them in no time if not suddenly someone else was shooting at them. Both men were hit. But obviously they were wearing bulletproof vests under their shirts, because they only swirled around and opened fire at their attackers.

"S.B.P.D." Shawn heard McNab shout. "Throw the weapons away."

Again the culprits were under fire. Not from McNab but from the still unseen third party of this event. The two agents obviously decided that it was better to retrieve and eventually bolted and ran away. McNab and the other officer tried to follow them. Shawn didn´t wait any longer. He bolted too – for Peter and his lawyer, who was still trying to bring his client around.

"Is he dead?" Shawn asked when he reached them.

The lawyer threw him a brief and frustrated glance but didn´t say anything. And then, there were footsteps approaching them. The lawyer swirled around and aimed at the hood of the car, where he expected them to appear. A young blonde girl was standing there. She was holding a gun too. Her eyes were hard. The glance she got in response, was one of pure shock. Shawn looked from one to the other and didn´t know if he should expect a rescue or a new shootout.

"You … You are Claire Bennet!" Gus cried excited. She and the lawyer turned around to him, startled. So did Shawn.

"She´s the girl from the video." Shawn stated with a frown.

"What video?" Gus frowned back.

"The video Lassie showed us on his computer. If you hadn´t been at the vending machine to get yourself a snack …"

"I was stressed, Shawn."

Claire Bennet didn´t wait any longer and quickly knelt down next to the unconscious (dying?) Peter.

"I … I followed her on twitter." Gus explained while she checked Peter´s breathing. "And I know your website. „People with abilities exist". I´m magighead101. I´m one of your regular subscribers. God, I don´t believe it´s really you. Can you really …?"

"Dude." Shawn interrupted him. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"It´s an online community, Shawn. People who claim to have abilities and others who believe them. I know it sounds absolutely crazy but there are scientific explanations and evidence that prove there are …"

"Dude, there is a bleeding man lying before us … wait a second. So you´re saying you knew about that stuff? How long?"

"Since I got out of hospital."

"But …"

"Hey guys!" the lawyer cried, losing his patience.

Claire Bennet hurriedly got an empty syringe out of her pocket. A second girl arrived, just in this moment. She had long dark hair and she was holding a gun as well – it seemed that everybody had a gun these days. The brunette quickly took the situation in and spotted the man on the ground.

"Oh god, Peter." she cried.

Claire Bennet flipped the plastic cap off the needle with her mouth, simultaneously rolling up her own sleeve.

"What are you doing?" Shawn cried.

He got no answer. The girl just set the syringe at her arm – Shawn and Gus flinched and looked away when the needle pricked in – and filled it with her own blood. After that was done she set the shot at Peter´s arm, injecting it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shawn cried again. "You can´t just make a transfusion like that. What if … if you have the wrong blood type? You could kill him with that. Right?" he looked at Gus for confirmation.

The blonde girl looked up at him with a startled frown. She exchanged a glance with her friend.

"I have blood-type 0 negative." she told Shawn.

Shawn blinked a little embarrassed, not quite understanding why that made a difference, but then he shrugged. "And what makes you think a transfusion will save him anyway?" he kept asking.

"It will." she assured him and turned back to Peter. Shawn noticed another cold glance she threw at the lawyer before she turned her attention back to Peter.

"Come on." she whispered urgently. "Get better."

"Don´t worry, Shawn." Gus said. "She´s healing him with her blood. Right? That´s what your blood can do. When injected into someone, it can heal him."

"That´s right." Claire affirmed, smiling almost like a teacher would smile at a good student. She was thinking for a moment. "Magichead101. I think I remember you. You were the one who suggested plasma transfusions."

"Why isn´t he healing all on his own?" the lawyer asked, obviously trying to bring their attention back to Peter. "Shouldn´t … shouldn´t he adapt your powers now that you touch him?"

Claire Bennet only threw him another cold glare. What a quick change from that sweet and hearty girl to that hard and cold woman, who obviously tried to kill this lawyer only with her scowl.

"He said, they injected him with something when he was in the hospital." her friend explained on her behalf. "Probably a variation of Suresh´s virus."

"Suresh?" Gus whispered to Shawn and then turned back to Claire Bennet. "I remember that you mentioned that name on your website."

"Could you stop talking about the website?" the lawyer cried.

A wet sound that came from Peter made them all look around. They looked just in time to see the two bullets that had almost killed him, plop out of the wounds and the wounds closing themselves just a second later. Gus immediately started to gag and turned around to keep from vomiting. Shawn on the other hand could only stand there, unable to move or to take his eyes away from what had happened in front of his very own eyes. A few more seconds went by and all the sudden the almost dead Peter opened his eyes, gasping loudly when his lungs started to work again. The three people around him sighed with relief.

Gus came back to Shawn´s side, unable to miss what was happening, no matter how sickening it was.

"Lazarus is back." was all Shawn knew to say.

In the distance they heard horns approach. The backup McNab had called for.

"We need to hurry." Claire Bennet urged and helped Peter to get up.

"What?" Shawn cried. "You want to run? Why?"

"They´ll arrest us." the girl cried back at him, already in the process of shoving Peter away.

"I´ll get the car." her friend said and was gone.

"What?" Shawn cried again. "No. I mean … we can tell them that you didn´t …"

"There´s no time for long explanations." the lawyer told him, blocking his way so he couldn´t follow them. "We can´t risk that."

Shawn looked around, desperately trying to figure out his next step. "All right." he then said. "We bring you someplace save."

"No." the lawyer said.

"But …"

"I have a place where we can go." he stated.

"Then I´ll come with you." Shawn changed his course and looked at Peter. "Dude. I need to know what´s going on."

"No, you don´t." the lawyer was stubborn. But so was Claire Bennet as it seemed. Where he denied Shawn to tag along, she was immediately for it.

"You can ride with us." she said and skillfully ignored the baffled face the lawyer threw her.

"Claire!" he cried after her but she wouldn´t turn around.

Shawn was on the tenterhooks. He swirled around to Gus. "Dude." he cried. "You go to my dad´s and tell him that …"

"You must be out of your damn mind, Shawn, if you think I let you go with these people alone. I know much more about Claire and her mission than you do. I´m coming with. In my own car."

"If that is so, you might wanna give me a ride." the lawyer asked him, sounding somehow exhausted. "It seems my daughter won´t be too crazy about me driving in the same car as her."

**...**

It was the docks they were driving to and an old storehouse where they finally stopped. A big but old and faded sign on the front wall read penguin paper-productions. The same name was printed on the old and abandoned boxes that stood at the delivery place. Peter gave them a look and turned to his lawyer with a raised eyebrow.

"Homesick for Odessa, Noah?" he asked but got no answer.

"Odessa?" Shawn repeated. "Sounds like that princess in dug lake."

"You mean Swan Lake, Shawn." Gus corrected. "And her name was Odette."

A door was opened and a blonde woman came out of the abandoned storehouse. When she noticed that there were much more people than she obviously had expected, she threw Noah an asking glance. But before he was able to say anything, she´d spotted Claire. Alone this fact seemed to make every other explanation unnecessary. The girl´s presence also seemed to make Shawn and Gus secondary as visitors to this welcome committee.

"Come in." the woman said at last. "It´s better not to hold this conference out here."

"Dude." Shawn whispered at Gus. "Is it just me or is something boiling here?"

"Claire and her father haven´t spoken for over a year." the dark haired girl explained. "She thinks he betrayed her. I think she´s right." The stoic look on her face changed to a smile. "I´m Gretchen by the way." she introduced herself.

Shawn shook her hand, a little uncertain after this summary. "Gretchen?" he asked. "Like in Fist?"

"It´s Faust, Shawn." Gus corrected.

"And? That´s the proper translation for this word. Isn´t it? Though I never understood what the whole play had to do with a fist. There weren´t even any fistfights in it."

"As if you ever read it."

"I´ve seen it on TV once. Accidentally."

From inside the storehouse they could hear shouts now. Obviously the discussion was already well developed in there. Gretchen groaned, letting her head hang for a moment. "Not again." she mumbled to herself, before hurrying over to the door.

Shawn and Gus could only follow her.

"If you´re here to help, then where have you been when he was attacked in the hospital?" they heard Claire shout at her father.

"We had to take care of these two." Noah replied, pointing into a certain direction.

"What two?" Shawn wondered. It was always a difficult thing to catch up when coming in late on an already heated argument. But then he spotted two figures that were bound to chairs, both of them wearing dark clothing, and suddenly he knew what had happened to Lassie´s suspects.

"What do you want?" Bennet now asked his daughter. "I got him out of prison long before you even got here. What is an unnecessary risk by the way. I´d figured you for smarter, Claire."

"I can´t get harmed." was her response.

"But you can get captured. And take it from me. You don´t wanna spend the best years of your life in a cell of the Company."

"Don´t pretend that this is all about me."

"I don´t need to pretend. You made that pretty clear one year ago, when you decided that you had the right to decide for every person that has an ability, that it is time to come out to the world. People who lived incognito for years until you came along. Do you have any idea how things could have ended if we hadn´t stopped the wave?" he turned to Peter all the sudden. "You´ve seen that future, Peter. How can you possibly be a part of this?"

"I saw a future destroyed by a virus." Peter argued. "The truth is no virus. It´s the healing."

"God, what was my crime?" Bennet groaned. "It seems to be my curse that I have to fight against ignorance beyond good and evil."

"You had no right to take that chance away from us." Claire told him.

"Chance for what? To get locked away in concentration camps? Being experimented on? Chased by hooded people with torches?"

"In what world do you live?" she cried.

"In this world, Claire." he told her. "The world of reality. And I live in it a few more years than you do."

"Oh, please. I see how you live in this world." She pointed around the storehouse.

"You think what you did, was the better solution?" Bennet fired back at her. "Living in an underground community? Hiding from the world? Fighting the Company all on your own? Maybe you can´t get hurt but what about the others? Gretchen for gods sake. She isn´t even a Special."

"Oh, I can watch out for myself." Gretchen assured him and held up her gun to prove that.

"What about your education, Gretchen?" Bennet asked. "You started highschool when we first met. How is this kind of life correlating with your plans in life? An education. A training."

"Electronic distance learning." Gretchen shrugged and Bennet rolled his eyes.

"And where´s your mother?" he turned back to Claire.

"Dead as far as I know." Claire shot back and an expression of shock appeared on Noah´s face. "She died in a cell of the Company." Claire explained, realizing what he´d thought. "Because of Sylar."

Shawn and Gus exchanged a glance at this.

"I´m talking about Sandra." Noah said after he´d overcome the shock. "Your mother."

"What´s the matter, dad?" Claire asked, now a hundred percent aggressive again. "You can´t get hold of her new phone number?"

"Claire, that´s enough."

"Dude, this is so awesome." Shawn whispered at Gus. "It´s better than a soap opera."

"Shawn!" Gus shushed him, an expression of shame on his face.

"I don´t have to listen to you." Claire declared and was in the process of leaving, when her father grabbed her arm to hold her back. "Let me go." she hissed at him.

"As your father, I forbid you to …"

She jerked her arm away from him. "You are not my father." she hissed.

Bennet looked at her for a moment. "Maybe not." he then admitted. "But since Nathan isn´t here…"

"Wait a sec." Shawn spoke up, turning to Gus with a frown. The two of them had by now taken on the parts of not participating watchers. "I thought he _is_ her father. Did I miss something?" Gus could only shrug. "You don´t know that?" Shawn cried scandalized. "I thought, you know so much about her."

"I know about her ability and her mission. She doesn´t post her family history."

"Mission? What mission?"

"To let the world know that people with abilities exist."

"But what about him being her father or not being her father? That´s what I don´t understand. I mean …"

"Noah´s her adoptive father." Gretchen informed them to cut the discussion short. The two of them opened their mouths, understanding at last.

"Of course, that makes sense."

"Don´t talk about him as if it was his fault that he isn´t here." the argument between father and daughter went on undisturbed.

"Nathan isn´t the point here." Bennet tried to get the talk back to a reasonable level.

"Right." his girlfriend agreed, speaking up for the first time since the whole argument had started. "We have to assume that the Company knows about your group, Claire. The fact that they attacked you in an open street, indicates that they start to get impatient."

"Why should they be impatient?" Claire asked, not buying what she heard.

"Because, now they know that you are close." Bennet told her.

"Me?"

"And your friends. You might not understand that in your idealism but your group is a big fat buffet for these guys. They are hunting people with abilities, Claire. What do you think would be better for them than a community like yours that has contacts to so many of them? They are after you. And when they´ll find you, they´ll first kill your friends and then they´ll use your channels to find all the people you had contact with."

For a moment, Claire seemed to be off balance. But this moment went by rather quickly and the stubborn look was back in her eyes. "Don´t worry." she said. "They won´t find them."

"Are you really that oblivious of reality or do you only pretend to be?" her father cried. "If you should ever get caught …"

"I won´t." was all she said to that. "And even if, I would never say anything. I´m not a traitor." Unless some other people, her gaze spoke what her words didn´t.

"Claire, believe me, they have ways to make you talk." Bennet said. "To get the information out of your mind and you won´t be able to stop them from doing so. You must stop to live this delusion that you are invincible just because you can heal. I´m trying to protect you. And your friends."

Claire snorted. "Yeah, sure."

Shawn´s cell phone started to ring, disturbing the brief but heavy silence that had followed these last words. Everybody turned around and looked at him. He flinched and hurried to get it out of his pocket.

"Sorry." he said and held it up. "That´s … that´s my dad. Sorry, I ehm … I have to take that." He turned around and answered the call.

"Yeah?"

"Shawn, where the hell are you?" Henry barked on the other end. "There was a shooting, a car exploded. McNab said you were suddenly gone."

"It´s all right, dad. I´m fine." Shawn assured him. "Just …"

"Fine?" Henry interrupted him. "I´ve been worried to death. Juliet has been worried to death."

"Okay, I´m … I´m sorry." Shawn apologized as genuine as he was able to in this moment. Behind him the argument had been picked up again and he felt his feet glowing to get back there. "Listen." he said therefore. "I´m in the middle of something big and I really can´t talk right now."

"Shawn, what the hell are you doing?" Henry snapped. "You´re not supposed to be out there on your own. You lost your bodyguard."

"Well, you know, dad. I never could look after my stuff. But if you look at the lost and found office, I´m sure he´ll be there. Got to go. See you later. Bye, dad."

"Shawn, don´t you dare to hang up on m …"

Shawn disconnected the line and let his cell slip back into his pocket. As fast as he could, he went back to the arguing people. To gain their attention he clapped his hands together loudly, wincing a little when the shotwound in his shoulder protested. But at least he made them all look up at him.

"All right, guys." he cried enthusiastically. "I was just told that I have to be home at ten, so maybe we could cut this whole family session a little shorter and come to the point. What´s the plan?"

Everybody just looked at him frowning. Even Gus.

**...**

Later that evening, Shawn was totally exhausted and ready to fall into his bed without changing. Gus dropped him at his place. The two officer´s who were assigned to watch him, were in the process of getting out of their car but Shawn tiredly waved for them to stay where they were, that everything was fine. After a short hesitation, the two cops sat back down.

"Dude, seriously." Shawn groaned. "That was the most exhausting afternoon I´d ever had."

"Tell me about it." Gus agreed and got back into his car. "I never thought that Claire had so many issues in her private life. In her articles at the website she always sounded so strong and confident."

"People are never what they seem from far away." Shawn spilled some of his rare philosophies and Gus could only nod in agreement.

"At least now we know who sent this boy from San Francisco for us." he summarized.

"Yeah." Shawn said, frowning deeply when he remembered what Claire had told them about her friend´s ability. "How can someone tell if someone has an ability or not, just by touching him?" he wondered.

Gus just shrugged and dismissed the question as unanswerable. "One thing´s for sure." he said instead. "I´ll sleep like a rock tonight."

"Me too." Shawn agreed and waved his friend good bye when he drove off.

God, what a day. Conspiracy theories, shootings and exploding cars. Not to mention all that drama about fathers and daughters and brothers and dead family members. Halfway through the whole thing he´d lost track of who was actually related to whom in all that. Probably because they´d kept yelling accusations at each other instead of properly answering questions.

Man. And he´d though he had problems with his dad. With all that drama, who needed shapeshifting psycho killers and assassination commandos that were sent out by some Company to kill people with abilities?

Shawn got into his apartment, closed the door and went straight to his couch. His shot wound was throbbing dully. He lay down, careful not to disturb his arm in the sling. But as strange as it was, the throbbing pain lulled him to sleep even faster. Barely a minute after he lay down, he was fast asleep. But even stranger than that … he was aware that he was asleep. Because this time he wasn´t part of the dream. This time he was watching it.

**...**

The car stopped in front of the house. It was sunset by now and the street was lying there in a sleepy atmosphere. Only a few people were around and surely no one payed attention to the two men who just got out of the car.

"You see, when I went to that dance performance, I had no idea that Mina had an ability." Sylar told Mohinder. "But when I realized that she had one, I couldn´t stop thinking of her. It was like a magnet that drew me in. It´s not that I planned to do that, it just happened."

The two men had reached the gate and without a warning, Mohinder swirled around and pushed Sylar against the pole.

"Stop that." he hissed into the face of the man who´d murdered the wife of his cousin. "Why are you telling me this?"

"So you will understand." Sylar said. "That´s how it feels when the monster takes over. This part of your soul. When the urge inside is getting too strong to resist. It´s like a …"

But Mohinder pushed against Sylar´s chest one more time in his anger, to make him stop already. Eventually he let go of him, the anger in his eyes as strong as always.

"You don´t need to tell me how it feels." he said. "I was ready to kill you. I still am. So let´s not explore this any further. For the sake of this mission."

The scientist turned around, so he didn´t have to see the smile that appeared on the killer´s face. What he saw instead, made him halt in his steps. There was yellow crime scene tape at the door of this house. Immediately he rushed over to it. After a short moment of hesitation, he took the doorhandle and broke it open without much effort. He ducked down and slipped in, looking around in disbelieve.

"Dear god." he whispered when he saw the blood strains on the carpet. "What happened here?"

Sylar came in, behind him, looking around. Only he reacted much calmer than Mohinder.

"I´d say someone died in here." was his dry comment. "That´s just a guess of course. I could be wrong."

"Sasha was supposed to convince Takolov to help us plant the virus." Mohinder cried in desperation.

Sylar whistled quietly as if he hadn´t known that plan already. "Good people are hard to find." he commented. When Mohinder threw him a dark glare, he dismissed his own joke. "You knew that something was wrong when this police detective answered her phone." he told the scientist, slowly getting impatient and pointed at the blood on the floor. "Don´t tell me that this is such a surprise."

"No." Mohinder shook his head in denial. "This can´t be. Takolov was our only chance."

"We´ll have to find another way." Sylar emphasized, speaking slowly so the doctor would hear what he said.

"Which way?" Mohinder demanded to know. "The computer is _inside_ of the facility. There is no way that we can get there without help." He halted. "I´m calling Bennet." he then decided, taking his new prepaid phone out.

"Noah´s face is as well known to the Company as ours." Sylar objected, grabbing the phone so Mohinder couldn´t dial the number. "And if it is true what you said, that they can disturb my vibes, it won´t help us either if I took on another face."

"So what do we do?" Mohinder wanted to know.

Sylar just smiled confidently. "We´ll have to ask someone else for help." he said.

"Who?" Mohinder demanded an answer.

But Sylar only turned his head and looked at a mirror that hung at the wall. He couldn´t have told how he´d known that but when he saw Shawn Spencer´s face in it again, he wasn´t surprised. Shawn on the other hand was more than freaked out, when he realized that he wasn´t just watching the whole thing. He was watching it from behind this mirror. And that Sylar actually knew he was there. He could freaking see him.

He tried to skip away from that mirror when Sylar slowly approached it, but something was in his back. Not a wall. Something soft. Something that felt like cushions. The cushions of his couch.

Shawn opened his eyes and gasped in relief to find that he was safe and sound back in his apartment. That all this had been only a dream. And then a hand was on his face, closing his mouth so he wouldn´t scream. Two dark brown eyes appeared over him, regarding him with genuine curiosity. Sylar smiled.

"Well, well." he said. "Now I finally get an idea where my weird dreams came from."


	11. Waking Time

**Waking Time**

Shawn immediately started to struggle but Sylar´s grip on him was just too strong to get away. He tried to scream but it didn´t work. The killer over him just smiled at his fear and even started to shush him as if he were a kid, that was frightened of the monster in his closet.

"Ssshhhh, Shawn." he said in a gentle tone. "Don´t bother. It´s okay. Everything is all right. No one is gonna hurt you."

Shawn stared into these dark eyes, the eyes that had used to haunt him in his dreams and his heart was thudding behind his ribcage. Sylar´s smile grew a little wider.

"You don´t actually think that I just came here to take revenge, do you?" he asked and shook his head. "Honestly, Shawn. Sometimes I wonder what is going on in this head of yours."

He raised his hand and pointed at Shawn´s forehead. The fake psychic closed his eyes and waited for the pain but it never came. Instead a second voice spoke up.

"Stop that." the accented voice of Raj Singh´s cousin demanded and when Shawn opened his eyes, he saw the scientist holding Sylar´s wrist. "We´re not here to scare him."

"I know." Sylar replied sadly and looked down on Shawn again. "What a shame. You have no idea how much fun it can be to scare this guy."

He took his hand away and of course Shawn started to scream. Or at least he tried to. Sylar´s hand was covering his mouth again only a nanosecond after he´d released it. He leaned over him as if it needed more strength to keep Shawn quiet than before, groaning exasperated.

"Told you." he said in a chitchat tone, looking over his shoulder. Then he turned back to Shawn and started to talk to him again, his brows raised as if he really spoke to a stubborn child. "Listen. I´m not gonna hurt you." he said. "But you won´t make this better if you don´t listen to us."

Shawn stopped struggling and when Sylar released him this time, he didn´t scream. Instead he asked: "Is this a dream?"

Sylar chuckled. "Oh, no. This time it´s real. Believe me. It´s as weird for me as it is for you. You see, I had some weird dreams too lately."

"What are you talking about?" Mohinder asked confused. "We´re not here to talk about dreams."

"Oh, come on, Mohinder, we have the time." Sylar pouted, never looking away from Shawn. "It´s quite a coincidence, isn´t it? Maybe you can tell me about it … Psychic. What is all that supposed to mean?"

"I have no idea." Shawn cried. "I am no psychic. You said that yourself."

"Well, maybe I was wrong."

"No, you weren´t. You weren´t. You were absolutely right. I´m not a psychic. Not at all."

Sylar smiled. "How sweet." he said. "Look at this. He´s afraid that I´ll take his brain out if he would admit it."

"There is nothing to admit." Shawn assured him. "You´ve got to believe me."

"Cut the crap." Mohinder demanded, talking to Sylar not to Shawn. "We´re not here to play staredown. Shawn. I´m sorry that we invaded you like this. But we came here to ask for your help."

"I know." Shawn said. "You need to get in someplace."

"See?" Sylar cheered, hitting his knee. "I told you he´d know." For a moment he enjoyed Shawn´s fearful silence. But then he met Mohinder´s warning gaze and he contained his grin. "Sorry." he said with a bashful smirk that wasn´t sorry at all.

"Wait." Shawn panted. "So you mean all this is real? All that I dreamed about you guys … this really happened?" he stared at the killer before him. "What did you do to me, for gods sake?"

"I did nothing." Sylar stated, almost angry about this accusation.

"What are you talking about?" Mohinder demanded to know. "What dreams?"

"I saw it." Shawn told him. "The whole thing. You helped him escape from prison. Are you crazy? This guy´s a killer. He killed your cousin. And your dad, _you_ told me that."

"I know." Mohinder said, an expression of shock on his face. After another moment he shook it off and asked: "How can you know all this? I thought you are no psychic."

Shawn could only shake his head. He was looking at Sylar who he still believed to be responsible for all this crazy stuff in his head. But Sylar only turned around to the scientist and gave a small shrug.

"I think there is a lot more going on here, than we understand, Mohinder." he said.

Shawn looked from one of them to the other and when he realized that the killer was momentarily distracted, he took his chance to bolt away from the couch. It actually worked. He escaped from Sylar´s reach and for a moment he truly believed that he could make it to the door. But when he ran past Raj´s cousin, the Indian scientist grabbed him and swirled him around until his back was pressed against the wall. Not even the surprised look in Mohinder´s own eyes (it probably had been an instinctive reaction) could change the shock Shawn felt over this.

"What the hell are you doing?" he cried. "You´re really helping him? Why?"

"It´s not about him." Mohinder said. "It´s about much more people. Innocent people. I´m trying to stop a genocide."

"Shouldn´t you know about this, Shawn?" Sylar asked, coming up beside Suresh. "I mean you dreamed it, didn´t you?"

Shawn threw a dark glare at this killer. "Let´s say it was more like a slide show what I saw." he said at last. Sylar nodded understandingly.

"It was that way for me too." he said and when Shawn frowned, he added: "You are a lucky guy, Shawn. Living a life like this."

Mohinder released Shawn´s collar, looking bemused over his shoulder.

"Spare it." Shawn hissed at Sylar. "We´ve been there before."

"Indeed." Sylar agreed. "But I grew to realize something more through these dreams. That we both, you and I, are actually not that different." Shawn snorted but Sylar didn´t let that irritate him. "We both tried to be special because our parents wanted us to be." he started to talk. "Because they wanted us to be so much more than we could actually be."

_I knew you could be so much more, _Shawn heard his mother´s voice again like she´d spoken to him in his dreams.

"Your dad wanted you to follow in his footsteps." Sylar said. "My mom wanted me to be president." He chuckled and shook his head.

_If you wanted, you could be president._

Shawn stared at the killer and just couldn´t believe it. "That was you." he understood in shock. "Those were your memories. I dreamed your memories."

"And I dreamed yours." Sylar nodded. "Sort of. It was a strange and … very disturbing mixture of both our memories, I guess. But whatever it was, it was enlightening. At least it was for me. You have no idea how good I understand you, Shawn. You tried to run away from your father but in the end you had no choice but to come back … and to fulfill what he´d wanted for you. It was never your choice to do this. It was always his. He made you that way. The way my parents made me this way. Created after their misguided image. Only you found a way to live with this curse your father put on you. Much better than I did. Now look at us. Two opposite sides of the same coin."

"No." Shawn shook his head. "I´m not like you."

"Exactly." Sylar agreed. "And that´s why I think you could be my savior."

"What? Okay, dude. You … need help."

"That´s what I´m talking about." Sylar said, staring at Shawn with glowing eyes, far too intimidating to be even remotely comfortable. Shawn was close to freak out.

"We are not here to find salvation for what you´ve done." Mohinder spoke up, to end this whole thing.

"Maybe we are, Mohinder." Sylar objected. "Don´t you see it? That´s why all this happened. Why we got connected." he looked at Shawn. "Because we are in some way connected. You must understand that, Mohinder. You were brought on this way by your father as well."

"All right, that´s enough." the geneticist demanded. "I didn´t come here to find salvation."

"But you could find it anyway." Sylar tried to convince him. "Maybe it _was_ fate."

"I said, stop that."

Shawn stood there and listened to all of this and found it utterly disturbing that he actually knew what they were talking about.

"I came here to stop the Company from killing people." Mohinder stated.

"The Company?" Shawn repeated.

"The organization we escaped from." Mohinder explained. "They are locating people with abilities to hunt them down and kill them."

"People like Juliet." Sylar emphasized. "They don´t know about her yet but one day they will. And then they´ll come and kill her too."

Shawn swallowed. "They already came." he said and an expression of shock appeared on the killer´s face. "But she wasn´t hurt because they came for me." Shawn hurried to explain, wondering why he felt the need to put this man´s mind at rest. "That´s at least what Peter said."

"Peter?" Sylar asked with a frown.

"Peter Petrelli?" Mohinder specified.

"He was here." Shawn said, not surprised that they knew who he was talking about. "He saved my life after these guys with the black masks shot me. Brought me back from the dead, man."

Mohinder threw a bemused glance over his shoulder at Sylar. The killer just shrugged. "Seems I missed that episode." he commented. "But that definitely sounds like Peter. The only thing I don´t understand is, how he could know about this. What is he doing here?" he wondered out loud to himself before he addressed Shawn again. "You don´t happen to know that, Shawn, do you?" he asked him.

"Why should I tell you?" the fake psychic replied.

"Peter had to run when the Company came for him." Mohinder spoke up. "Just like Angela."

Sylar stared at him. "You knew that?" he asked in disbelieve. "Why didn´t you tell me?"

"We were not on this trip to exchange family stories." the geneticist said.

"Well, it would have been nice to tell me anyway." the killer replied. "What the hell happened?"

"So now you care for other people all the sudden?"

"Yes. Mohinder. I do. So would you please tell me or do I have to beg for information?"

The scientist was uncertain for a moment but then he just summarized. "After Angela Petrelli knew that the Company had started to change its politics, she was replaced as its head. She could run before they came for her. She warned her son that they would come for him too and he left New York. Where he went and what happened after that, I don´t know."

"I think, I do." Shawn took over. "He seems to be with a group of people that are … how do you call it? Special?"

"A group?"

"The Rebels." Mohinder spoke it out before Shawn had a chance to.

"What? What is that supposed to mean?" Sylar wanted to know.

"What do you know about them, Shawn?" Mohinder asked ignoring Sylar. "The Company didn´t find them, did they?"

"No. But this guy with the glasses was worried that they could."

"Glasses?" Sylar repeated.

"Noah?" Mohinder asked. "Was his name Noah Bennet? Where is he? Is he in town?"

"Okay, dude." Shawn raised both hands. "This is getting way over my head now. Slow down."

"We already agreed that Noah can´t help us here." Sylar told Mohinder.

"He was the one who brought me into this." Mohinder replied. "It was his plan to bring the Company down from the inside. If he can´t help us, then no one can."

"That´s not true." Sylar argued and pointed at Shawn. "He can."

"Me?" Shawn shrieked. "Okay, time out. Seriously. I … I don´t even know what you guys are talking about."

"We´re talking about murder, Shawn." Sylar said. "Organized killings. Innocent people are killed just because they are different. If we can get access to only one computer, we could stop all this."

"How?"

"I have a virus." Suresh explained. "A computer virus. Here on this disc. I need to plant it into the Company´s system and they will not be able to find those people anymore. And that´s only the first step. With their system down, it will be a lot easier to destroy the whole Company. If we succeed we could stop all of this."

"But we need to get into this building." Sylar finished the explanation.

"What building?"

"It´s a technology producer." Suresh answered. "Electricon."

"I know that." Shawn realized. "That´s on Gus´ route. Er … ehm … in Durham-Street, I believe."

"The concern is just a cover. It´s one of the Company´s facilities. The computer we need access to is in one of their offices. But it is highly secured and if we come only near that building, they will immediately arrest us. Or worse."

Shawn hesitated. He tried to come to a decision to either listen and actually consider this idea or to just dismiss it and try another escape attempt. At the end his eyes came to rest on Sylar again.

"Why are you doing this?" he wanted to know. "Why do you care what happens to those people?"

"I know you only see me as a killer." Sylar said. "A monster." He looked at Mohinder briefly. "Most people do." He turned to Shawn again. "But Mohinder´s right. This is not about me. These people are innocent and what the Company tries to do is much worse than everything that I could have done. You don´t need to do it for me, Shawn. Do it for Juliet. One day they´ll find out about her. It is just a matter of time."

"All we need to do is getting this disc into the computer." Mohinder repeated. "Whoever goes in there … will practically safe half of the world."

"What do you say, Shawn?" Sylar asked with a smile. "You wanna be a hero?"

Shawn just made a face but he was already busy thinking this whole thing through. "Not me." he said at last. "Unfortunately I´m not qualified for this. Fortunately … I work with people who are."

**...**

Lassiter flashed his badge at the woman behind the counter. He was regarded with big uncertain eyes and he couldn´t help but wondered if the person before him knew what the people she worked for really did in this place. When Spencer had told him last night, he had barely believed it himself. He almost had denied him to come over to explain it to him. But then he´d mentioned that Juliet´s life might depend on it and Lassiter had allowed himself to consider the crazy things the fake psychic might come up with.

And then the shock when he´d opened the door. The man Shawn had brought along and that he had forgotten to mention. Lassiter had thought he was seeing a ghost. This man was supposed to be dead. He´d seen him as a dead body at the pier. Killed by that crazy killer Sylar. But then he remembered that Shawn had told them about Raj´s cousin and that the man looked almost like the man´s twin brother. Back then Lassiter had believed the fake psychic was only exaggerating. But the similarity was indeed amazing.

Doctor Suresh had explained to him, that the employer of Lassiter´s murder victim Takolov was involved in some strange and seemingly random killings all over the country. He´d shown him evidence that proved his words. The explanation seemed fantastic but for some reason Lassiter had believed it. He´d seen the two men entering O´Hara´s place to kill Spencer the exact same way this doctor Suresh described as their modus operandi. They´d believed Shawn to be a real psychic and they´d indeed sent someone to kill him. They even had succeeded in killing him and if Lassiter hadn´t been there, they would have killed Juliet as well.

So no, Lassiter had absolutely no problem believing that these things, this strange Indian scientist was talking about, could truly exist. Even the part that was about superhuman abilities. He´d seen Sylar change into his partner for cry out loud. He´d seen Spencer dead and then alive again. He´d seen too many impossible things lately to doubt. And as it seemed, his theory about his victim´s death hadn´t been so far off after all. It had been a professional killing, all right. Only not done by the mafia. Instead it had been another criminal organization. An organization that hid right under their noses, with a big building here in Durham-Street, all in the open and for everyone to see. An organization that called itself The Company. How original.

Now the receptionist of this so called Company, officially known as Electricon, took her phone, to call her boss. To inform him about the two detectives that were here, asking questions about Mr. Takolov.

Lassiter exchanged a glance with O´Hara. Spencer had been against the idea to let her come along. But there was simply no other way. Lassiter had had to justify their visit here before the chief and it would have raised suspicions if he´d gone alone. Besides, the plan wouldn´t work with only one person and Spencer was not a good idea to let in here. These guys had already tried to kill him once. If he would show up at their doorstep now, every alarm in the building would go off. Silently of course but it would shatter all their plans to sneak in discretely, seeming harmless and unknowing. Just some local cops who had no idea what they were truly investigating.

The receptionist put the phone back into the cradle and told them Mr. Anderson would greet them in his office.

"Just take the elevator to the fifth floor and go to the end of the hallway." she explained the way. "You can´t miss it."

When they were in the elevator, he raised his hand, up to his ear.

"We´re on our way." he spoke silently into the microphone he´d hidden in his sleeve.

Man, that was so cool. He felt like an FBI agent, or like one of the Secret Service. God, he loved these undercover outfits they had at the station. They truly had too less opportunities to use it. But in this case it was just essential for the success of the plan.

"Understand." the accented voice of the scientist answered him. "We hear you loud and clear."

O´Hara raised her hand to her ear for a moment but dropped it quickly. She needed to remind herself to not let show that she was wearing this earwig. She threw Lassiter a glance and after a moment, he did the same. Regretfully. But she was right. They were not in here to play. They had a mission to fulfill.

The elevator stopped and they went out into the long hall. The hallway that led to the office where this famous and all controlling computer was supposed to be located.

All Suresh had known about it, was that it was hidden in the Company´s big boss office. It was connected with all kinds of systems worldwide. Homeland security, FBI, CIA, even similar organizations in foreign countries. Interpol for god´s sake. All of them unaware of this unasked visitor to their systems. And the Company was able to locate the people they wanted to kill and to erase all their tracks after the job was done.

Lassiter felt anger inside of his chest. Suresh was right. What those people did was cold blooded murder, organized and inhuman. He would do whatever it took to stop that and if he had to tear this building apart, stone by stone. But for now he had to act friendly.

When Anderson greeted them and shook their hands, assuring them that he´d do anything to help them solve this cruel and terrible crime that had cost one of his workers life, Lassiter thanked him. He started to ask the standard questions and Anderson answered them all, willingly and as it seemed honest enough. He barely sounded suspicious. What a good liar.

Lassiter had to restrain himself, from yelling into this guy´s face what he really thought of him and his organization.

He demanded to see the victim´s working place, insisting that Anderson should be the one to show him. He had questions to ask that only he could answer, he claimed. The slimy bastard hesitated very subtly, only for a second, before he agreed.

"Maybe my partner could have a look around in here, while we´re gone." Lassiter suggested before they left the office.

He took good care to say it in a nonchalant way, as if the idea had occurred to him just now. Again a short hesitation on Anderson´s side. But then he smiled.

"Of course." he said. "Make yourself at home, detective."

"Perfect." Lassiter commented and urged Anderson out of the door, before he could change his mind, throwing one last glance at his partner.

As soon as the door was closed Juliet began to inspect the big desk. "I´m alone in the office now." she spoke into her sleeve.

"Great." Suresh answered, from his position in the police van, hidden in a side allay a few hundred feet from the building in Durham-Street. Behind him Shawn and Gus cheered in silence.

"That´s my cue then." Sylar said and went out before any of them could even consider to say something.

Juliet and Lassiter had no idea about the presence of the killer. To explain that would have been way too difficult, Shawn had figured. But for his part of the plan, they didn´t need to be informed. Sylar would get spotted by the Company´s surveillance cameras, to draw their attention. Simple. And Lassie and Jules would be off their radar.

Gus threw Shawn a glance after the door was closed behind the killer. It spoke loud and clear what he thought of this sort of cooperation and Shawn couldn´t blame him. Sylar´d tried to kill him after all. He´d tried to kill them all. Only Shawn´s assurance that he felt the same way about this killer as Gus, had convinced his friend to put a good face on the matter. Or at least a neutral one, until this whole thing was over.

"Do you see the computer?" Suresh asked Juliet now.

"Yes, I see a computer." she informed him. "But … I´m not sure if it is the right one. It looks totally normal. Like the kind you find in every common household. Maybe there is another one in here. A hidden one maybe."

Suresh hesitated. "I can´t tell you what you should look for." he admitted. "If you´re not sure then have a look around. But hurry."

"I will." she promised.

Shawn and Gus exchanged a glance. They listened intensely at every sound they could hear over the channel that connected them with Juliet. And then there was a sound, one that wasn´t from Juliet´s attempt to search the office. It was a little farther away from her. Nothing loud. Maybe a door that got opened?

And then, all the sudden, there was only static in the line.

"Wow, what just happened?" Shawn asked, nervous. "Why can´t we hear anything? What´s the matter?"

"I don´t know." Suresh said, trying to get the signal back. Nothing happened. "I can´t reach detective Lassiter either." he said.

"Why that?" Shawn cried. "What´s going on?"

"Signal interferences?" Gus suggested. "There are computers and electronics everywhere. Maybe …"

"Yeah, and maybe they got caught." Shawn interrupted, impatiently, already on his way to the door.

Suresh jumped up, blocking his way.

"We don´t know that for sure." he tried to reason with him. "Maybe your friend´s right. Maybe we´ll get the signal back in a few minutes. It … It could be because they raised an alarm because of Sylar. We don´t know that. But if you run in there now, you´ll blow the whole thing. Please. We need to give them a chance."

Shawn tried to calm down. He really did. The scientist´s arguments were reasonable. But damn, something just told him he was wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong in there. A lost signal? Not good. Not at all.

But Suresh was right. If he was just over the top nervous and ran out there on a hunch, he´d blow their cover. So he settled down, and tried to wait. Wait for the signal to come back.

Only that the signal didn´t come back. They waited five minutes. Ten. Fifteen. Nothing. Eventually Shawn jumped out of his seat again and when Suresh tried to hold him back this time, he didn´t listen anymore.

"If Jules had only lost the signal of her earwig, she would have found another way to contact us." he told him. "So you could give her your instructions to enter the virus." he cried. "She would have called me on my cell phone. But she didn´t. Something went wrong."

"If you go in there now, they´ll catch you as well." Suresh said.

"I sent her in there." Shawn cried. "If they do anything to her …"

"They won´t." Suresh assured him. "They have no reason to. For them she´s just a cop that became too curious. They will find a way to discredit them without harming them. That´s how they do it. They are not in any immediate danger."

"What about Sylar?" Gus threw in the question.

Suresh turned around to him, surprised. "If they caught him too … they´ll most probably kill him." he said.

"Forget about Sylar." Shawn cried. "What about Jules? And Lassie? We can´t just leave them there."

"We won´t." Suresh assured him, a gaze full of guilt. He hadn´t wanted this either. "We´ll get them out." he promised. "But not now. They´ll wait for us now. I´m sorry."

"Then what?" Shawn demanded to know. "I won´t leave her. Maybe you don´t care about them but …"

"I´m as responsible for their fate as you are." Mohinder interrupted him, grabbing Shawn´s collar to keep him from jumping out of the van. "If you want to help them, you have to wait. We´ll come back tonight. To finish the mission and save your friends."

Eventually he released Shawn´s collar, when he was sure he´d gotten through to the man. "We will save them." he repeated. "But we can´t do it alone. You said you know where Noah Bennet is hiding. Bring me there. He´ll know what to do."


	12. Reinforcement

**Reinforcement**

"Last time I saw them, they were in here." Shawn told the Indian geneticist, when he opened the door to the old storehouse.

Inside it was dark. Silent. Not the illuminated big room, they´d seen a few days ago. Were they gone after all?

"Here?" Suresh asked in a whisper tone, looking around uncertain.

"They were here." Shawn insisted. But regarding this all surrounding silence, he wasn´t sure at all. "Were." he emphasized his statement.

But he wasn´t ready to give up either. Lassie and Jules were waiting to be saved, after all. And so he walked deeper into this dark, to see if he could find something. Anything. Maybe a clue to where these people had gone.

Somebody jumped around a corner, from out of nowhere, and held a gun into his face. Shawn didn´t even get a chance to flinch.

Fortunately the person aiming at him was familiar. Not a criminal. It was Lauren Gilmore, the fake lawyer´s girlfriend. When she recognized him, she lowered her gun.

"Noah." she called over her shoulder.

And there he was. The fake lawyer and insurance salesman. He looked through his glasses with an expression of utter surprise. They obviously hadn´t expected to ever see them again. Then his gaze found the geneticist and surprise transformed into downright shock.

"Mohinder." Bennet cried. "Dear god, I thought you were dead."

Suresh´s brows went up, startled. "Why that?"

"I heard about Sylar being escaped and I couldn´t reach you."

Shawn watched Suresh hesitate. "About that …" the geneticist lowered his gaze. "I uhm … I had to make a few changes … in the plan."

Now it was Bennet who halted, narrowing his eyes. "What does that mean?"

Suresh took another uncertain moment before he forced himself to go on. "Sylar escaped along with me." he explained. "I needed his help to get to the virus. There was no other way."

"You helped him escape?" Bennet cried in disbelieve. "You let this monster out of prison, out into the world to keep hunting people with abilities like my daughter? Like yourself? You must be out of your damn mind, Mohinder."

Gus raised his brows at the last sentence.

"You don´t need to worry that he´ll hunt down your daughter." Suresh assured Bennet. "Or any other Special for that matter."

"Why?" Bennet asked, frowning suspiciously. And then: "Did you kill him?"

Suresh gaped, shocked. "NO!" he cried, sounding so much like his cousin that it send goosebumps down Shawn´s back. "I brought him along." Suresh explained. "He promised to help me against the Company."

"And you believed him?" Bennet snapped.

Shawn opened his mouth to say something.

"Of course I didn´t believe him." Suresh told Bennet, not even noticing Shawn´s effort to interrupt. "But I couldn´t just let him out into the world. As you said. He _is_ a monster."

Bennet sighed deeply. "So where is he _now_?" he finally asked.

"The Company captured him. Today. We …" Suresh pointed at Shawn and Gus. "and two detectives tried to get access to the computer in Durham-Street. But we failed."

"Jules and Lassie were caught." Shawn burst out. "And we want to get them out of there."

Bennet looked at him, for a long time. He seemed to consider this request very seriously. "That won´t be very easy." he said at last.

"We don´t care if it´s easy or not." Gus stood up next to Shawn. "They are our friends. We´ve got to save them."

Shawn nodded strongly at this, glancing demandingly at Bennet. The fake lawyer and insurance salesman nodded.

"All right." he said at last, and turned back to Suresh. "What about the virus?"

"Detective O´Hara took the disc with her." the scientist told him. "But I made a copy the night before. Just in case."

"You did what?" Gus cried.

"So you expected that something would go wrong." Shawn understood.

"And you didn´t warn them?" Gus was shocked.

"I made that copy to be on the safe side." Suresh defended himself. "In case the disc should get lost or damaged. This mission is too important to risk it."

"You rather risk the lives of our friends." Shawn cried and was about to grab Suresh´s collar. Bennet stepped between them.

"Please, gentlemen." he said. "Let´s be reasonable."

"Being reasonable brought us into this." Shawn hissed.

"You self-serving son of a …" Gus started but Bennet shouted at him.

"That´s enough!"

When Shawn tried to grab Suresh again, he held him back, much easier than Shawn would have expected it from that guy. "Don´t make me tase you, son." he warned him.

"She trusted you." Shawn shouted at Suresh, ignoring the threat.

"And now you should do the same." Bennet replied on the scientist´s behalf. "Because he´s the only one who can get her out of there. With a little help from us of course."

"And us." a new voice echoed through the empty hall, making them all turn around in surprise.

"Peter!" Suresh cried, astonished.

"Mohinder?" the young man answered, not less surprised.

Bennet forgot all about the three arguing men and headed for the three newcomers.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded to know, and even though he was addressing Peter, his whole attention was on Claire. "You should be on your way back to San Francisco by now."

"We were." Peter replied. "But I got a call from my mother this morning. She said she had a dream last night. And that we should come here. She said we would be needed." With a glance back to Suresh and the others, he added: "Seems she was right."

Bennet followed his gaze, to his other three guests. "Yeah, she was right." After another moment of hesitation, he nodded: "It´s good you´re here, Peter." he said. "We´ll need all the manpower we can get."

"What do you mean?" Suresh spoke up, approaching Noah. "I thought we plan to sneak in at night."

"Night, yes." Bennet affirmed with a nod. "But sneaking in didn´t do the job. Besides. Now they´ll expect exactly that from us. If we do that, they´ll catch us, the same way they caught your other friends. No. This time we have to so something unexpected. We will attack them directly."

"But … they´ll fight us." Suresh pointed out.

"Exactly. And while they fight us, you can get to the computer to plant the virus into their system."

Slowly understanding started to dawn in the scientist´s eyes. "A diversion."

"I believe that´s the correct term." Bennet nodded.

"What about Jules and Lassie?" Shawn spoke up.

"He´s right." Suresh admitted. "I´m responsible for them. I have to help finding them."

Bennet looked at Mohinder and the two civilians, thoughtfully. Again there was a long pause. Eventually he nodded. "All right. _I_ can take care of the computer." he told Suresh. "You go and find your conscience."

"We don´t need him." Shawn stated.

"Oh, believe me." Bennet replied, dryly. "If you ever want to get out of there again, you will need him." He looked around. "The one of us, one of them policy obviously won´t work in this case, since the math isn´t equal." he stated, talking to the whole group. "But we have at least two specials in our team. That´s something for a start."

"Three." Mohinder corrected.

"Oh, I was counting you." Bennet assured Suresh. "It will be three as soon as you restored Peter´s abilities."

"Dude." Shawn whispered at Gus. "Don´t tell me that this guy is freaky too."

Gus looked pretty startled over that idea as well. He could only shrug at Shawn.

Suresh looked at the young man, confused. Peter looked back at him grimly.

"The last assassin the Company sent, injected me with something." he explained. "My abilities are gone."

"But now that you are here we have all the ingredients we need to give them back to him." Bennet added and padded the scientist´s shoulder. "Right?"

"What is he talking about?" Shawn whispered at Gus.

"On Claires website there was an article about Dr. Suresh´s formular." Gus whispered back at him and turned halfway around so he could explain what he knew undisturbed. "I don´t remember everything but I believe he found a cure for a virus that attacks only people with abilities. It´s a combination of his own blood and Claire´s. In simple terms. The virus takes away the abilities and this blood-cure can bring them back."

"What? Dude. You made that up."

"I didn´t."

"But … that totally sounds like the plot of a bad science fiction comic."

"Wha …" Gus was too baffled to give a response.

Behind them Mohinder nodded at Bennet. None of them seemed to have payed attention to the banter of the two friends.

"I will need a place to work." the scientist said. "And a blood sample of you, Claire."

"Actually, I happen to have a place for you." Bennet told him, pointing behind himself. When the scientist reacted confused, he showed him an unobtrusive door that led into a backroom. A lab table was standing in the middle of the room. Or better yet, a meth lab.

"Obviously, we were not the only ones who used this place as a stash." Noah explained. "Is that what you need? Or is there anything that´s missing?"

Suresh wandered around the dirty table, letting his gaze wander over the instruments. "It´s not what I´d call healthy equipment …" he said. "But yeah. That will do. I just need to … sterilize some of these … things."

"We will be happy to do that for you, doctor." Bennet replied and with we he meant mostly his daughter, Gretchen, Shawn and Gus.

**...**

"So how did you stumble into all of this?" Peter asked, a few hours later, while Suresh was busy to get the injection ready.

"Noah." was the quick answer. "He called me. Asked for my help."

"And you just agreed?" the young man raised a surprised brow.

"Not at first." Mohinder admitted, still busy preparing the syringe with the injection. "But in the end he convinced me. I made the mistake not to believe him once. I didn´t want to repeat it. He showed me what the Company was doing. Things that your mother couldn´t stop because they were getting out of her control. There were certain elements in the Company who kept these things away from her influence."

"With these elements you mean a man named Cartwright." Peter knew.

"Right. Noah brought me in a few weeks before Cartwright replaced your mother as the Company´s head."

"How?" Peter wanted to know. "How did he bring you in? Weren´t they suspicious?"

"Not at all." Mohinder couldn´t restrain a small chuckle. "I only needed to ensnare them with something they wanted."

"And what was that?"

"The formular."

"The one that takes away peoples abilities? I thought that didn´t work."

"It doesn´t." Mohinder affirmed frankly. "But I could convince them that I could perfect it. That I was so obsessed with my work that I didn´t care if I had to make a deal with the devil to complete it. Seems I have some talent in that matter."

Peter frowned, unsure what the doctor was referring to.

"So." Mohinder declared and raised the syringe he´d just filled. The injection only took a few seconds. "It might need a moment."

Peter nodded and sat back. "What about Sylar?" he asked while they were waiting.

"If he´s still alive then he´s exactly where he belongs." Mohinder said, busying himself with sorting his tools.

"You really believe that?" Peter asked.

"You don´t?"

"No. Besides the fact that Sylar can´t die … it maybe would even be a better alternative than being imprisoned in The Company for the rest of his life. You worked for them. You should know."

"How can you feel compassion for this man?" Mohinder´s face was full of disgust, and incomprehension. "He murdered your brother."

Peter stayed totally calm. "What he did to me … and my family … I forgave him." Mohinder shook his head. "How?" "He changed, Mohinder." "I didn´t see any change."

Peter only looked at the scientist for a moment as if he was listening for something. "That´s not true." he then said matter of factly. "You saw it. You just don´t want to forgive him."

"Of course not." Mohinder cried. "He killed my father."

"That was years ago, Mohinder. He is not that man anymore. He´s trying to control his hunger."

"Well, he killed my cousin only a few months ago. He didn´t try to control his hunger when he did this. Nor when he took out the brain of his wife."

"I know." Peter said emphasizing. "When I heard about him … backsliding into his old habits …"

"Old habits, that´s what you call it?" Mohinder cried, almost laughing about that choice of words.

"I tried to find him." Peter went on as if he hadn´t heard the disruption. "But I had to take care not to be found by the Company and … Sylar obviously didn´t want to be found either, so …"

"You tried to find him to stop him?"

"And to help him. He´s only that way, when he´s alone. When he has no one that reminds him why he wants to stop, to control the hunger that drives him."

"That hunger drove him to kill half of my family by now." was all Mohinder would say to that.

Peter lowered his gaze for a moment. "All I can say is that I saw him in a future where he had changed. Where he had defeated his hunger for the sake of his little son. He is capable of changing."

Mohinder just stared at Peter but didn´t say anything. For a while they both were silent. Peter didn´t want to defend what Sylar had done. But after a few minutes he spoke up again.

"You know what I think?" he asked the scientist. "I think the reason why you don´t wanna forgive Sylar, is because you would have to forgive yourself too."

The Indian scientist finally halted in his senseless arranging of the lab table.

"I never asked for forgiveness." he stated.

"And yet you got it. And not just from me."

"I barely deserved it." Mohinder replied, his voice getting hard again. "I wanted powers and I killed people in my tries to complete the formular. That´s what this graving did to me. You saw me. It´s only a mere coincidence that I didn´t turn into a monster back then. What I did …"

"Is in the past." Peter interrupted him. "And you regretted it."

"That doesn´t make it undone."

"No." Peter agreed. "But it makes you another person. Forgiveness is working on two sides, Mohinder. It´s not only Sylar you need to forgive. First it is yourself. Believe me, I know."

Outside of the little room, just behind the door, Shawn lowered his gaze, frowning deeply over what he´d just heard. At the beginning of the whole thing he had wondered who these people were he was getting into business with. Now he wasn´t so sure anymore if he still wanted to know. The more he learned about them, the more he was creeped out.

**...**

The table was fully covered with weapons. All sorts of them. MP´s, revolvers, glocks. Lassiter would be in heaven if he´d be here, Gus thought to himself. Bennet was handing out these weapons to everybody, practically arming them like a small army. It was so unreal.

"Where did you get all these weapons from?" Gus asked, feeling a little out of place.

Bennet halted, loading his MP. "Ebay?"

"We´re ready." the voice of doctor Suresh interrupted them. When he and Peter arrived at the gathering, his eyes showed the same startled reaction about this armory. Peter seemed a little surprised too but not as much as the scientist. He just threw an asking glance at Bennet and with that he already seemed to have his answer.

"Ready, Peter?" Bennet asked. "That´s good. Seems you can choose now. Healing? Or superstrength."

Gus felt a little like he´d been thrown into an infomercial. If you call right now you get one superpower for free. Recommended retail price. Call now while stocks last. He shook his head. This was ridiculous.

"I already got what I need." was Peter´s answer.

Bennet looked at Suresh for a moment and then nodded. "All right then." he said. "Let´s go over the plan, shall we?" he leaned over the map of the building and started to explain. "Our two guests of the week, provided us with some very useful information. According to them, this is the least secured entrance. We´ll go in there."

"How do you know they are telling the truth?" Gus wanted to know and got another one of these long glances that were obviously the man´s specialty.

"We know." he assured him. "They will accompany us, so they have no reason to lie."

"They what?" Shawn cried.

"That way it´ll seem as if we´re more than we actually are." Bennet explained while Lauren led the two suspects over to them. Their hands were bound with duct tape.

"You´re going to let them play bait?" Gus cried, scandalized.

"Sure." was all Bennet said.

"Are you giving them real weapons?" Gus demanded to know.

This time the gaze Bennet gave him, was asking him undisguised if he was crazy. Of course the answer was: "No."

"Then they will get killed by their own men." Gus cried.

"Most likely."

"But you can´t do that."

Bennet straightened, a look of utter disbelieve in his eyes. Gus skipped back a little at this gaze, but only a little.

"These two guys tried to kill your friend here." Bennet recalled, pointing at Shawn. "One of them succeeded. You really want to beg for their lives now?"

"Yes, I want to." Gus insisted. "They are human beings."

Bennet looked at Shawn, exasperated, as if to ask him to talk some sense into his friend. Gus looked at Shawn too and saw something in his face that he didn´t like.

"Shawn?" he asked, expecting his friend to back him up.

But Shawn´s gaze was hard. He didn´t look at him. He looked at the two men that had broken into Juliet´s home and shot him.

"Shawn." Gus cried, now really worried.

Shawn finally took his eyes off the two men and looked at him. Briefly. Then his eyes wandered to Bennet, who was obviously waiting for his decision. Again Shawn´s eyes switched over to the two culprits.

"You at least can put some vests on them." he said at last. His voice was hard. Harder than Gus had ever heard him talk. "That way they have a chance."

"You sure about that?" Bennet asked.

"Yeah."

Shawn´s gaze hadn´t changed a bit. It was still hard and coldly fixed on the two men. Eventually he turned away from them, only to meet Peter´s gaze. The young man nodded at him, approving.

"Okay." Bennet said and gave Lauren a nod. She mirrored the nod and after a brief look at Gus and Shawn, she went away, to fetch the vests.

Bennet bent down, over the plan once again.

"The first thing we´ll do when we´re in there, we´ll take out the camera´s." he said. "Our friends gave us the code. As soon as this is done, Mohinder you and these two will take this staircase here, down into the cellar where the cells are. Don´t take the elevator, they would notice that. Stay away from electronic devices, no matter what kind. I´ll go to the main office and take care of the virus."

"Who´s going with you?" Peter wanted to know.

"No one. You all stay together and create as much trouble as possible. Draw their attention away from me."

"Forget it." Lauren said. She´d just returned with the vests. "I won´t let you go alone. Someone has to go with you. One of us, one of …"

"Not in this case." he talked over her. "The key to this operation is it that I get to the computer unnoticed. We serve this target better if I go alone."

"But what if you get killed?" Claire cried, speaking up for the first time. There was something in here eyes that hadn´t been there before. Something that seemed to come from another time, earlier in their relationship.

Her father looked at her, a subtle smile playing on his lips. "Let´s hope that I already installed the virus until then." was all he said.

The young girl struggled with herself. She looked as if she wanted to object, but she pulled it back. Instead she threw her father an accusing glance that spoke: It´s always the way you want it, isn´t it, dad? Shawn had a sudden feeling of empathy for this family. Odd.

"Did we forget anything?" Bennet asked.

"Yeah, one thing." Shawn raised his hand. "I need guns for Jules and Lassie."

Bennet just nodded, at Gretchen, and the girl took the wanted tools, handing them to Shawn and Gus. Two glocks with fitting magazines of ammunition. While they packed them away into their pockets, Bennet went over to Lauren who was in the process of putting the vests on the two culprits. He lend her a hand and finished the work on the first guy.

"No stunts when we´re in there." he told the man when he was done, making sure neither Gus nor Shawn could hear him. "Or I´ll personally drive a bullet into your head."

**...**

It was a few minutes after midnight, when they´d finally gathered behind a corner in Durham-Street, circa one hundred feet from the building they were about to infiltrate. Technically they were ready, prepared to move in and take down the enemy. They had guns, they had bulletproof vests and they had a plan. They even had superhuman powers to support them.

But things like that didn´t quite mean that one was truly ready to do what they were planning to do. At least not if this one was not a former agent or hitman or whatever this fake lawyer and his girlfriend were.

Shawn´s hands were clinging around the gun, Bennet had given him while Bennet himself and Lauren were busy observing the building at the end of the street. He threw a glance behind him, at Gus. His best friend was as nervous as he felt himself. Gus was just in the process of putting a helmet on his head, additional to the bulletproof vest and the plastic shield he´d insisted on, a thing that Shawn only knew from police operations at demonstrations.

"Dude, you know we´re not going to Iraq?" he whispered at him.

"I don´t wanna get shot, Shawn." was all Gus would say to that. "If they shoot teargas at us, this shield will hold off the grenades.

"You know …" Shawn stuttered, suddenly feeling guilty. "You don´t have to come in with me. I … I understand if you´d …"

"You must be out of your damn mind, Shawn, if you think I let you in there alone." Gus cried.

"Don´t worry." Bennet spoke up beside them, making them both jump. "You guys won´t even be anywhere near the real fights. As soon as you´re in there, you´ll separate from us. Don´t bother about what´s happening behind you. Just run in, find your friends and get the hell out of there, before you run into something you can´t handle. Don´t try to play heroes. Understand?"

The two of them could only nod, obediently.

"All right." Bennet said and went back to the corner, his gun ready. "Then let´s do this."

"Dad." Claire held her father back one last time.

He turned to face her, waiting for her to say something. But she lowered her eyes.

"Take care of that disc." she said, detached. "We only have this one."

Bennet didn´t say anything. He only smiled at his daughter, as if she´d said something totally different. Eventually he nodded, at the whole group. Before they actually moved out, he pointed at the two culprits.

"And you remember what I said. Then you might get out of there alive. You might."

The team moved over to the building, straight to the back door, behind the parking lot. Bennet immediately stuck a small explosive on the lock and then ducked down. They all did. The explosion was small and amazingly quiet. Nothing more than a tiny puff and the door was open.

Shawn spotted at camera under the roof. It was pointed directly at them. He raised his gun and shot it. Somehow he thought that Lassie would have done the same thing if he´d been here.

"We should hurry, guys." he whispered. "I think they know we´re here."

Bennet threw a glance at the camera that was now nothing more than a piece of shot junk. "Of course they do." was all he said and urged them all inside.

The control panel in the small room next to the door, was his first target. Quickly he entered the codes that would deactivate the surveillance system.

"That won´t buy us any time at all." he commented when it was done. "Mohinder, you know what you have to do. So do you all. I´ll have to say good bye now. Good luck to all of us."

And with that he was already on the way. In the distance there were approaching footsteps.

"Go now." Lauren urged Mohinder, Shawn and Gus. She was already taking position to make a stand against the guards. So did the others.

Gus handed Gretchen his plastic shield, before he followed Shawn and Suresh. The scientist led the way until they reached the door that was supposed to lead them down into the cellar. When the door shut behind them, they could hear shots ringing out in the hallway.

But that was not their fight. Their mission was down there, at the end of these stairs.


	13. In The Bowels Of Hell

**In the Bowels of Hell**

Mohinder snuck down the staircase, Shawn and Gus right at his heels. He peeked through the door that led out into the hallway. It was empty. The halls were long, lined with doors that truly looked like prison cell doors, with only a tiny window to connect to the outside world.

They checked every one of those cells but with no success. At the corner, Mohinder flattened himself against the wall, to peek into the next hall. It was empty.

"All right." he told them. "The cost´s clear. Go. Go. I´m right behind you."

Shawn and Gus hurried past him, to keep checking the next doors, right away. Gus on the right, Shawn on the left side of the hall.

Mohinder threw one last glance behind, to make sure no one was coming for them. Then he followed. Only when he looked ahead, he found the hall as empty as before. What the hell?

Shawn and Gus had just passed him. Where were they?

He started to run, until he reached the next corner. But the two halls that separated from there were empty too. There was no open door or anything, no way they could have taken. They´d just … vanished.

"Shawn." he called out as silent as possible. "Gus."

Again he turned around. No one was there. That was just impossible.

And then he heard footsteps behind him, already believing that he´d fallen for a labyrinth effect of these corridors, that seemed to look all the same. But before he realized what was going on, he felt a pain in his shoulder, a stab, and reacted on pure instinct. When the person grabbed his shoulder, he grabbed right back and swirled the man around.

It all happened so fast that he couldn´t do anything but watch it like through a window. As if someone else had taken over his body´s movements and used it to smash this Company man into the wall, breaking his nose in the process, sending dozens of bone fragments into his brain.

Mohinder stared at what he´d done in shock, stumbling back, away from that man, that was now dying on the wall before him. He looked at his hand and the small strains of blood on it. His heart was thudding behind his ribs.

The pain in his shoulder reminded him of the attack and he reached up to pull out, whatever stuck there. He expected to see a knife but instead he held a syringe in his hand.

What had they given him? The same serum they´d injected Peter with? The virus that took away his abilities? Or was it something else instead? Tranquilizer? Poison?

Mohinder started to feel dizzy already.

He threw the syringe to the ground and looked around, to the end of the hallway. It seemed so much longer now than just a minute ago. So long. He started to run. But after only a few steps, his legs started to shake so violently that he couldn´t move them anymore. His head started to spin and another heartbeat later, he just lost every grip to his surroundings, and he dropped to the ground like a bag of bones.

**...**

Meanwhile Shawn and Gus had hurried ahead, believing the geneticist would stay behind, to keep his eyes open for possible guards. They checked every door they passed, peering through the small windows. The first three cells Shawn checked were empty. The forth window he peered through brought the change. It wasn´t Jules he saw in there though.

"Lassie!" he cried and immediately tried the door. To his big surprise it wasn´t locked.

He didn´t wait to find out why, but ran right in.

"Gus, in here, I found Lassie." he cried in a whisper tone and crouched next to the unconscious detective. "Lassie." he shook his arm. "Lassie, come on, man, wake up. Wake up."

He was just about to stand up again, to have a look out of the door for Gus, when Lassiter came to life, grabbing him. The unexpected attack surprised Shawn and he lost his balance. Lassiter rolled from his bed and right over him, coming to a perfect stop with his left hand on Shawn´s collar and his right fist an inch before his face.

"Lassie, no." Shawn cried through gritted teeth, desperately trying not to lose consciousness because of the pain in his shot shoulder. "It´s me." he managed to bring out. When the detective halted in confusion, he added. "Relax, Lassie. Bad boy. Drop it."

Finally the detective came back around, released him with a shaking hand.

"Spencer?" he asked. "What the hell …?"

"It´s all right, Lassie." Shawn tried to sound soothing, struggling to sit up. "We found you."

The detective held his head, as if fighting a nausea. Eventually he looked up. "What happened?"

"We hoped you could tell us." Shawn had to use the bed on which Lassiter´d been as support, to stand up. "We lost contact." he told him. "We came here to get you out."

Lassiter´s eyes rushed back and forth, in his attempt to remember. His next action was to look Shawn up and down.

"What are you wearing?" he asked with a frown, regarding the black clothing and bulletproof vest.

"I know. Cool, huh? Wait until Jules sees me in that."

"O´Hara." Lassiter cried, jumping up. "Where is she?"

"I´m sure Gus found her by now." Shawn replied and hurried over to the door. "When I found you that easily, he sure will …" He halted, frowning, looking out into the corridor. "What the … Gus?"

He´d barely finished his call, when Lassiter pulled him back into the cell, pressing a hand over his mouth. He was listening. Shawn could hear something too.

The detective went down, to crouch behind the door, his back pressed against the wall.

"They must have heard you coming." he whispered.

"Impossible." Shawn hissed. "I was as silent as a ninja. It must have been Gus they heard. Or this doctor Suresh. He´s as clumsy as a bull in an Indian shop."

Lassiter threw him a brief frown, but focused again on the approaching guards, only a second later.

"They must have heard you when you broke the door open." he guessed.

"The door was open. I didn´t need to break it." Shawn explained and got another frown. He raised his finger, remembering something and searched his pockets until he found it. "I brought you something." he handed Lassiter the glock.

The detective´s eyes started to glow when he took it. "Great, Spencer." he cheered and after he checked the clip, looked at Shawn asking.

The fake psychic showed him the gun he´d brought for himself. He´d hoped he wouldn´t have to use it but now it seemed that he wouldn´t have a choice.

Lassiter nodded at him. "I´ll back you up." he said. "When they take cover, you run."

"What? No way. I came in here to get _you_ out. Means I should give _you_ backup and _you_ run."

"Spencer, I´m the detective here and you are the civilian. You´ll do what I say."

"But there are rules."

"What rules?"

"Of rescue missions." Shawn cried. "There is one that gets rescued and one that is the hero and you were the one who got caught in the first place, so you can´t be the hero. Besides, I should be rescuing Jules by now, not you. That is so not fair."

"Spencer, would you stop that nonsense and …"

Someone shouted outside of their cell and shots rang out. Lassiter reacted instinctively and started to shoot back at them. Shawn flinched at the sudden noise all around him. Then he only smelled the gunpowder.

**...**

Gus opened the door with a surprised frown. He hadn´t expected the door to be open. That he´d tried it after spotting Juliet, had been a reaction of pure hope. Never ever had he expected it to work. Now the door was open and Juliet lay there in reachable distance. Gus almost couldn´t believe it.

"Juliet." he cried and hurried over to her, calling Shawn over his shoulder and immediately padded the detective´s cheek. "Juliet, wake up. Come on, wake up."

She opened her eyes, a sleepy moan coming from her lips. As soon as she focused on him, she was fully awake though and sat up. "Gus." she cried. "Wh … what happened?"

"We lost contact to you and Lassiter." he told her. "Don´t worry, we came to get you out."

"We?"

"Shawn is with me and doctor Suresh. Bennet and the others are holding them off so we can run."

"What?" she shook her head in confusion. Her hand shot to her pocket. "The disc!"

"Don´t worry." Gus said and snuck to the door. "Bennet has a copy. He´s taking care of it. He said we should see that we get out of here." he reached the door. "Sha …" but Shawn was not there anymore. What the hell?

"Who´s Bennet?" Juliet asked behind him, but he barely heard her.

"He … He was right behind me." he stuttered.

"Bennet?"

"No, Shawn. And Suresh. I don´t understand that. Where the hell are they?"

"All right." Juliet said, still a little weak.

She swayed for a moment and Gus reached out a hand, to support her. She nodded at him that she was okay, taking a breath to clear her head.

"Do you have a weapon?"

"Oh, yeah." Gus hurried and gave it to her. She checked the clip and was satisfied. "You ever shot a gun?" she asked uncertain, looking at the gun he was carrying himself.

"Hell, no." Gus cried. "Bennet just gave it to me without asking."

"Who is this Bennet you keep talking about?" she asked him.

"Oh right, you don´t know him. He´s the lawyer who got Petrelli out of the station."

"The lawyer?"

"Yeah, but he is no lawyer. He´s some sort of ex-hitman or something. I didn´t really understand it all. All I understood is that Claire is mad with him because he betrayed her. But I think deep down she still cares for him. She …"

"Gus." Juliet stopped him, and he halted. Facing his startled expression, she just shook her head. "It´s all right, Gus. Just stay behind me. We´ll find Shawn and Carlton and then we´ll get the hell out of here."

"Oh. Okay." Gus agreed.

He followed Juliet outside, the gun in his own hand feeling oddly cold and heavy. Oh, he so hoped that he wouldn´t have to shoot at anyone. He would probably hit Juliet instead or even more likely, himself, before he hit what he was aiming for. And the way he knew Shawn and his stupid one man improvs, he´d accidentally shoot at him, when he suddenly came around the corner with one of his stupid grins on his face. Oh, so god help him, if Shawn should really do that to him, he would so strangle him.

"Which way did you come?" Juliet whispered at him.

"That way." he showed her the direction and together they started to sneak along the corridor.

They reached the next corner and Juliet prepared herself. But when she swirled around it, she aimed at nothing but another empty corridor. They exchanged a glance.

"I don´t understand that." Gus said. "They were right behind me. When I saw you through the window in that door, I saw Shawn looking through another. I thought he might have found Lassiter. And now …"

"We´ll find them." Juliet assured him.

But somehow Gus had the feeling that her confident tone was fake, that she was as creeped out over this place as he was. Especially since he remembered that there was supposed to be a shootout happening in the upper floors. Even with three floors between them, shouldn´t there be something that they could hear? Why the hell was everything so silent?

**...**

Mohinder´s vision was blurred but he came back around. Slowly it cleared again. There was a moving spot a few feet away from him. After his eyes had readjusted to their natural purpose, he could see that it was a cockroach, peacefully passing him as if it was just out for a little walk. Mohinder groaned. Lifting himself up was the hardest thing in the world but somehow he managed it.

The man he´d killed, was still lying on the ground. Just looking at him made Mohinder want to vomit. He didn´t want to kill him. How could this happen? He´d just swirled around, had barely touched him. Adrenalin could do a lot but that? That?

He started to move again. He had to find Shawn and Gus. Had they been caught? Where were they? The dizziness was still in his head while he walked along the hall, checking the doors. His legs seemed to get stronger though. At least they didn´t shake any longer. How long had he been out?

He peered through the windows in the doors but the cells were all empty. How many cells did they have down here? And what for? There had to be dozens of them.

"Shawn!" he called out, taking the risk that he could be heard. "Gus! Where are you?"

He got no answer. Only this eery silence.

He went on, checking cell after cell. What else could he do? He´d promised to find the two detectives and he intended to keep his promise. Somehow. It had been him who´d gotten them into this.

And then, all the sudden, was regarded with a sight he hadn´t expected. There was a prisoner lying in this cell, but it was neither of the detectives. It was Sylar.

Mohinder opened the door and went in, completely startled over this discovery. So he was still alive. Why? He was a Special and according to their master plan he had to die. They could have killed him. They had the virus to take away his abilities but they hadn´t killed him with it. Did they want to keep him for further studying? Mohinder needed to support himself on the edge of the cot when a feverish heat rushed through his body and into his head. After it was gone, he looked over his shoulder but no one was coming. Why hadn´t the door been locked?

Sylar looked very pale. Maybe he was dead after all? Mohinder checked his pulse but it was there. That couldn´t be the reason, for the door being unlocked. Something was wrong here. Very wrong.

Mohinder reached out a hand, to shake Sylar, but hesitated. Should he really wake him? Shouldn´t he rather leave him here and lock the door behind him, so he´d be save behind bars where he belonged? But then he remembered where they were and that this place was not a usual prison. It wasn´t even the usual Company anymore. These people were worse than Sylar. Far worse. They were stone cold murderers and not even Sylar deserved to die like that. Besides, Mohinder would need his help if he was really alone in here, with no idea where Shawn and Gus had gone to. The way he felt right now, he was most likely poisoned in some way.

So he grabbed the killer´s shoulder and started to shake him. Halfway through the motion, he noticed something on his hand though, and halted. The light in this cell was dim, so he hadn´t spotted it before. But now he had no chance to overlook it. Those dark spots on the back of his hand … that wasn´t the blood of the guard. It was something standing out from his own skin.

"No." he breathed, when realization hit him and instantly skipped away from the cot, as if he´d gotten an infection from it.

But of course he knew where it really came from. The injection had done that to him. He had no idea how, or why, but it had to be that way. How else could he explain this? Where else did these scales come from? Oh, god, he´d thought he´d be rid of them for good. He´d thought he´d survived it back then. He´d thought he´d been cured.

But as a scientist he knew that a decease like that didn´t just vanish. It was hiding in the body of the host, inactive, if the host was lucky for the rest of his life. But now he was staring down at his hands and arms and they were over and over covered with scales. The decease had found its way back to the surface again and it was breaking through violently.

"No." he whined, his voice shaking, and backed up, until his back was pressed against the wall.

Still he couldn´t take his eyes off this mutation on his arms. The one he´d though that if he´d ever see it again, then only in his nightmares. Never in real life. His arms started to shake when a wave of fear and disgust washed over him. At last his legs gave in and he slid down the wall until he was covering in the corner.

"No, please no." he whined.

On the other side of the small room, Sylar´s head started to move. The killer came out of his unconscious state. There were sounds he couldn´t place. When he turned his head to see what it was, he noticed a crouched figure in the corner. He needed a few more seconds to realize what he saw there.

"Mohinder?" he asked, startled. He got no answer. Slowly he struggled to sit up."Mohinder, what´s the matter? Where are we?"

Still he got no answer. Instead the scientist was talking to himself in a shaking voice, not even acknowledging Sylar´s presence.

"This is not true." he whispered to himself. "It cannot be. It can´t."

"Mohinder." the killer addressed him again. By now the behavior of the geneticist started to scare him. He got up and stumbled over to him, on weak legs. Halfway to him, he could finally see what had startled the man so much, and he stopped, dead in his tracks.

"Oh, god."

His legs were still shaking and he went down to his knees, still unable to take his eyes off that mutating man. "What happened?" he asked.

Finally the scientist payed attention to his voice. One eye peeked through his shaking wrists, first full of rage, then the fear took over again and Mohinder looked at the door, the ceiling, the floor. Everywhere. Like a hunted animal.

"An injection." he told Sylar, not even looking at him. "But that is wrong. It´s happening too fast. Much too fast."

A wave of cold fear ran over the killer´s back. Mohinder´s voice. It sounded so different. Not only that he sounded haunted and sick. But there was a rasping sound in it, that reminded of something that wasn´t human. The breaths he took were loud and rattling. And then all the sudden, Mohinder started to cough, his body shaking violently. When he doubled over, Sylar could see that something was standing out from his back, pressing against the cloth of his shirt. Something edgy.

The coughing was hard and violent and it didn´t stop. Sylar inched closer, seriously worried by now, and reached out a hand. The geneticist hit out.

"Don´t touch me." he hissed in a voice that wasn´t human.

The strength that pushed Sylar back, was much more than the killer could handle and a second later he found himself on the other side of the room. Something cracked in his ribcage when he collided with the wall and there was warm liquid running down his cheek. Mohinder looked at him, with shocked eyes but then the haunted look was back. Sylar took a moment to give his injuries time to heal.

"If they did this to you, they must have a cure for it as well." he told Mohinder.

"There is no cure." was the desperate answer.

"You cured yourself from it once already." Sylar recalled.

"No." Mohinder denied, breathing heavily and rattling. "A lucky coincidence cured me. And you killed the man who made that possible. There is no cure. Not anymore. Not this time." He stared at his own hands. "I´m a monster."

"First of all you´re a scientist." Sylar replied. "You can´t just lie down and give up."

The dark eyes of the geneticist looked up at him. By now they were really dark, no white was left in them. Mohinder chuckled. It sounded like a rattle snake.

"And you wanted to tell me how it feels when the monster comes out." he recalled. "Now look at me."

"We´ll find a way." Sylar assured him.

Again there was that hatred in the scientist´s eyes. "We?" he repeated coldly.

"I´ll help you."

"You´re a murderer." Mohinder recalled, once again.

"And you are a mad scientist." Sylar replied with a shrug. "Matches pretty good, doesn´t it? Pinky and Brain? You can be Brain."

Mohinder stared at him for one more minute. Then he started to laugh … and to cough again.

**...**

While the killer tried to take care of the mutated scientist in one place and Gus and Juliet were trying to find their way out of a seemingly endless labyrinth of hallways on another, Shawn was crouching next to Lassiter. The detective was shooting out into the hallway and so was Shawn. So far they hadn´t even had a chance to leave the cell.

The guards that were out there, had taken cover behind a corner and this whole thing had become like a typical gang shooting in the streets. Only that they weren´t in a street. They were in a prison. So it was practically more like a prison riot. Anyway, the whole situation was just ridiculous. Because it reminded too much of a bad action movie, where there were shootings in every third scene, only to honor the name action movie.

Lassiter stopped shooting and hurried to put another magazine into his gun, while Shawn kept the guards busy.

"When I shoot next time, you bolt for the corner, understood?" the detective demanded. "And don´t you dare to argue with me again." he added, shutting Shawn´s mouth before the fake psychic could object.

He prepared himself and at last nodded at Shawn. When he swirled around the corner again to shoot the guards back into cover, Shawn bolted. He ran with his head ducked down, until he was at the corner. Being there he turned back around, to see where Lassiter was. He saw him at the door, still shooting. One of the guards went down, hit by his bullet.

"Lassie, come on!" Shawn shouted and prepared to give him the same cover, the detective had given him. Only that he didn´t get a chance to do so, because all the sudden there were footsteps behind him.

"Spencer!" Lassiter yelled, and Shawn swirled around.

The only thing he saw was the muzzle of the gun that was pointed at his face. And then the shot rang out and his head was thrown around. Dimly he realized that something had hit him beneath his left eye. But that was all he could notice consciously – that and Lassiter yelling his name – before the lights went out in his head and he just fell … into an endless pit of darkness.

**...**

They were just around the corner, to take new cover from the shots, when Gretchen was hit. Claire heard her groan and then she saw her friend lying on the ground, a gunshot wound in her back, despite of the vest she was wearing.

Claire stared at her, shocked. How was that possible? No bullet could shoot through a vest. Right? Right?

"They have cop killers!" Lauren shouted and kept shooting to hold them off.

Immediately Claire was by Gretchen´s side, dragging her to the safety of the new line, Lauren provided for them. She turned her friend around and saw the blood on her lips. No.

"Hold on." she told her and hurried to get the syringe out of her pocket. "It´ll be just a sec." she promised and started to extract some blood from her own arm.

"Your blood in my veins?" Gretchen asked with a smile. "Great idea."

Claire chuckled but hurried to inject her friend with the all-healing substance.

"Hurry up!" Lauren cried, still desperately trying to keep the guards busy.

The two culprits they had brought in with them, had been shot long ago, and Peter was distracted with more guards, somewhere behind them. The Company had come up with much more manpower than they all had expected. It was as if they had known that they´d come.

But that couldn´t be, Lauren mused. If they would have known they would have never allowed them to come in here in the first place. So all of this could only be a mere coincidence. Maybe they´d planned a new mission, to take out a Special somewhere. That could explain why there were so many men ready to fight just now. Either that or this new Company was much more paranoid than they could have guessed. This massive, almost army-like presence was just insane.

Claire looked down on her friend, waiting for the healing process to start. When it didn´t happen, she got nervous.

"What is that?" she cried. "Why is it not working?"

Lauren threw a glance over her shoulder. "Maybe it wasn´t enough." she suggested, before she had to keep shooting. She pulled a grenade and threw it. The explosion echoed through the corridor and distracted the guards, for at least a minute.

"It was a full syringe. It has to be enough." Claire cried. Gretchen looked up at her as bewildered as she was. Her gaze was full of worry, not only for herself but also for Claire. Suddenly her eyes went wide.

"Claire." she brought out and pointed at her head.

First Claire didn´t understand the gesture. But then she noticed the small trickle of blood that ran down her own neck. She reached up, frantically, scared to death. She hadn´t even noticed the little syringe that still stuck there. She pulled it out and threw it away, disgusted. The stitch it had caused, didn´t heal.

Claire´s heart was pounding with fear. It was no severe injury and she didn´t feel dizzy or anything. But her wound should have healed by now.

"Oh, no." she breathed when she realized what had happened.

She looked at Gretchen with fear. _Her_ wound was severe. And if she couldn´t heal her with her blood …

"You should have listened to me, Claire." the voice of her father spoke up behind her.

Claire swirled around to him in shock. He was just standing there, looking down on her with these calm uncaring eyes, she loathed so much. "I told you it was a mistake to get normal people into this. Now you see what happened. Her death is on you, Claire."

"Noah." Lauren cried, as startled as Claire.

He looked at her and the next moment, she got shot from behind, where the guards had finally closed in. Her vest was defeated as easily as Gretchen´s before. Noah didn´t even flinch when she fell to the ground.

"What did you do?" Claire shouted at him.

"What I had to." was his answer. "To make you understand. All I wanted is to protect you. And if you don´t wanna listen, I need to lock you up. For your own safety."

"How could you do that?" she yelled at him.

He just looked at her with that placid face of his. "I´m really sorry, Claire-Bear." he said and shook his head. "But you leave me no choice. You´re grounded."


	14. Nightmares

**Nightmares**

The door to the office wasn´t locked. Of course not. For the whole world and probably for most of the people who worked in this building, this office was a totally ordinary one. It didn´t look special and the computer was seemingly an even more ordinary one. Advanced enough to not look out of place in a technology firm like this, but ordinary enough to seem harmless. No reason to lock a room like that. Nothing was to be found in here. Except if one knew what was behind that whole facade.

Noah Bennet knew. He´d worked long enough for the Company to know all the tricks. When he entered the office, he expected it to be empty. He was wrong. Someone was there. But not just any someone. Frederic Roth, the boss. The sponsor as everybody knew him. He was sitting behind his desk, patiently waiting for Noah to enter. He was smiling.

Noah stepped in, looking around, but no one else was there. After another moment he raised his gun.

"Throw it away, Noah." Roth demanded and Noah dropped the gun willingly. That was, his hand dropped it willingly. His mind screamed in shock at what he´d just done. He looked at Roth and the fat bastard was smiling.

"So that´s how it worked." Noah understood.

"That´s how it always works." Roth replied.

Noah nodded. "I guess Cartwright isn´t the boss either, is he?"

"Oh, he is." Roth replied and from one moment to the other, it was Cartwright who sat in that chair behind the desk. Noah couldn´t believe it.

"You´re a shapeshifter too?"

"Not a shapeshifter." Roth replied, changing back to his own form. "What I do is a little more nifty."

"You´re like Candice." Noah understood. "You´re creating illusions."

"I tell people what they have to do." Roth rephrased it. "What they have to see, what to think, what to believe. Mind control is the real power, Mr. Bennet." he said. "It´s as God-like as one could ask for." He stood up from his chair, walking over to Noah. "I have to thank you for your help, Mr. Bennet. You brought me four Extraordinaries right into my house. Spared us the labor of going out and hunt them. I wish it would always be that easy."

"You won´t get them." Bennet said.

"Oh, we already did." Roth replied. He switched on a monitor that was embedded in the wall and showed him the pictures of his friends, wounded and surrounded. His daughter just got captured by three armed men.

"Since we can´t kill her, we´ll lock her away." he told Bennet. "The rest of them will be dead soon. If they are not dead already."

"Why?" Bennet demanded to know. "You´re one of them. Why are you doing this?"

Roth just snorted. "Them." he said disgusted. "You mean the Specials? What´s so special about abilities if there are so many of them?"

"You are kidding, right?" Bennet asked. "That´s what all this is about? That you want to be the only one? That´s insane. There are hundreds of them out there. Maybe thousands."

"And my men will find them all." Roth replied unimpressed. "One day … I will be the last."

**...**

Down in the cell, Mohinder had finally overcome his coughing fit and tried to stand up. Sylar gave him a hand, until he stood upright again.

"I can walk." the scientist said with this new fizzing voice of his and Sylar let go of him. "I need you to do me a favor." Mohinder hissed at him.

"What?" Sylar asked.

"If things go wrong." the doctor said, breathing in rattling. "And I get worse … kill me." When Sylar stared at him, startled, he stated: "I don´t wanna live like that."

The killer only chuckled. "You think _I_ want to?" he asked and was about to leave the cell. But Mohinder held him back, with one scaled hand. His grip was so much stronger than necessary.

"You can kill me without taking it from me." he hissed. His eyes were glowing with a haunted madness. Sylar looked at him estimating.

"Okay." he said at last, skipping back a little. It seemed that he felt a natural aversion against the reptilian part of what Mohinder was turning into, just like most people did. "We´ll see." he said.

"You´re lying, you goddamn bastard." Mohinder sizzled. "Promise me." he demanded, pushing Sylar against the wall.

The killer raised his hand and telekinetically shoved the other man back. Mohinder reacted startled and instinctively raised both hands. Something shot out of his palms, something sticky that flew at Sylar in thin threats. Before he even knew what was happening, Sylar found himself surrounded by that stuff. It was spinning him against the wall.

"What the hell?" he cried, opening his palms upwards.

The flames consumed the web-like mass and as soon as his arms were free again, he reached out a hand, to lift Mohinder into the air, pinning him against the opposite wall, just beneath the ceiling. The scientist was still struggling, hissing angrily.

"Mohinder, stop it!" Sylar cried, angry now. "You´re not helping yourself."

At those words, the scientist finally seemed to wake up from his rush. He was blinking as if he´d just woken up from a dream. Like a sleepwalker.

"It´s starting." he whispered, his voice raspy and rattling. "I´m losing control."

Sylar sighed. "No, you´re not." he stated, matter of factly. "You´ll fight it, you hear me? You will pull yourself together and you will contain the monster. I´ll help you. And then you will help me to find a way out of here."

"I came here with Shawn and Gus." Mohinder stated gutturally. "To find the detectives. They got caught too."

Sylar nodded, as if he´d known that all along. Slowly he let Mohinder slide down the wall, until his feet touched the ground, releasing him from his telekinetic grip.

"Then we should stop fighting each other and start doing what you came for." he said.

Mohinder swallowed, and nodded. He turned to the door, as if ready to leave, and hesitated. He turned back to the killer before him, one last time.

"I want to kill you." he informed him and Sylar couldn´t help but chuckled.

"Noted." he said.

He made an inviting gesture for the door and finally they left the cell.

For a while they only searched, cell after cell, without finding anyone. And the whole time Sylar could feel the longing gazes in his back. He knew that Mohinder was trying his best not to jump at him and tear him apart. It was funny. He was supposed to be the killer, not him.

Suddenly they heard gunshots in the distance. The echo in these corridors made it impossible to tell where exactly the shots came from, but that didn´t keep them from starting to run. Soon the shots stopped but they could still hear sounds. Voices mostly. Eventually they reached a corner. The voices were right behind it. What they saw when they peeked around it, was unexpected and shocking.

It was Shawn, Gus and the two detectives, lined up on the floor, where the Company men had just dropped them. All of them had gunshot wounds. All of them were dead.

"No." Mohinder gasped and immediately the guards turned around to them.

Before they even had a chance to aim their guns, Mohinder lunged forward, attacked.

Sylar reached out a hand and dragged the weapons away from them. Only a second later, Mohinder was at them. The killer barely needed to do anything. A few of the men tried to help their comrades, by attacking the raging monster from behind, while he was busy punching the living crap out of them. Sylar lifted these few men into the air, threw them into the wall. Bones were breaking and a few skulls cracked under Mohinder´s fury punches.

Now, that´s how it is when the monster comes out, Sylar thought watching this. Only a minute or so after it had started, all the Company´s men were dead or dying … just like the four people they´d killed earlier.

It was the most depressing thing Sylar had seen in a long time. Their eyes were open but there was no life in them. Especially in Shawn´s case this was hurtful to see. But there was one person where it hurt even more. Sylar went down to his knees next to Juliet. He regretted all of their deaths in some way but to see her like that really hurt.

He´d loved her. Sure he knew it was because of her gift. Everybody fell in love with her. But that didn´t make any difference. A man could only feel what his heart told him to feel. And his heart had told him, loud and clear, that he´d fallen in love with Juliet. Jules. Looking down on her now, he sighed deeply. He gently reached out a hand and wiped a strand of her golden hair out of her face. Her skin was cold.

Behind him, Mohinder was still wreaking his rage on the last guard. He punched him again and again. The man was probably already dead, but that didn´t matter for the fuming monster. It just urged to express its need for blood. Sylar closed his eyes and tried not to cry. He didn´t want to turn around and away from Juliet but it was impossible to stand these sounds any longer.

"Don´t." he begged, quietly. "Stop it, Mohinder."

The sounds of Mohinder´s fist colliding with the already smashed face, kept coming. At last Sylar couldn´t stand it any longer. He got up and grabbed the raging man, pushing him against the wall. "Stop it." he cried into his face. "You can´t bring them back with that."

These last words seemed to get through to the man. His fuming eyes became startled, as if he wanted to cry. Sylar swallowed.

"They are gone." he whispered.

"That´s my fault." Mohinder sizzled, shaking his head. "It´s my curse. Everybody that trusts me gets hurt or dies. And you …" he looked at the killer with new rage. Before Sylar could resist, he pushed him forward and against the opposite wall. This time he shot the threats out of his palms much faster, covering Sylar with it from top till bottom.

"Mohinder stop." Sylar cried but Mohinder didn´t stop until his whole body was covered with that sticky stuff and he hung from the wall, embedded in a big cocoon.

After he was done, Mohinder stumbled away from Sylar. At the level of the four dead bodies he dropped to his knees and just stayed there, crawling on all fours.

"Mohinder." Sylar tried to call but his voice came out very weakly. "Come back here." He tried to push against the cocoon but he could barely move his arms. "Please, I can help you."

"I can´t do this anymore." the scientist sobbed, his forehead on the floor.

"Mohinder, don´t do this." Sylar cried. "Don´t let them win."

"They already won." was the weak reply of the mutation.

"No, they didn´t." Sylar insisted. "Not as long as we´re still alive. We can still fight them, we can make them pay. We can stop them, keep them from doing this to anyone else. Help me. Help me stop them."

**...**

"_Help me stop them."_ Sylar´s voice echoed through his mind.

"_How?"_ That was Suresh, wasn´t it? But he sounded so different. And then a scream. Horrible.

"_Gus, stop that." _That was Jules. She sounded worried. Frightened.

"_This is impossible."_ Gus cried and _he_ sounded even panicked. "_There has to be a way out. How can it possibly be that these corridors go on and on forever? This doesn´t make any logical sense."_

"_Gus, please."_ Jules was begging.

"_Spencer!" _Lassiter yelled and then there were shots again.

"_Your blood in my veins? Great idea."_

"_What have you done, dad?"_

"_What I had to. To make you understand. I´m really sorry, Clair-Bear."_

"_Mind control is the real power, Mr. Bennet. It´s as God-like as one could ask for."_

"_You´re kidding, right? That´s what all this is about?"_

Shawn wanted to scream. What was happening to him? Why was he hearing all these things? He grabbed his head and went down to his knees.

"Stop that." he cried. "I´m not a psychic. I can´t hear people´s thoughts. Stop it."

"But it is important that you hear all these things." a warm female voice told him.

Shawn looked up. At last the voices had stopped. He was in a place he couldn´t define. It was dark around him, somehow foggy. But there seemed to be light in the distance.

"It´s important so you will understand." the female voice told him.

Shawn was confused. "Mom?" he asked but the voice only chuckled.

"No, Shawn. I´m flattered but no."

Someone came out of this strange fog. A woman of maybe forty, fifty years. It was hard to tell. She had dark curly hair and indeed features like a loving mother. But Shawn didn´t know her. He´d never met her before.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Marilyn." she said. "And I brought you here to help you understand."

"Understand?" Shawn cried. "All I understand is that I just got shot. Oh, my god. Is my face still there?"

"Your face is unharmed." she assured him. "It was never hit by anything. That´s only what you were supposed to think."

"What?"

"You´re in a prison, Shawn." Marilyn told him. "A prison that is much worse than walls and locked doors. I´m here to help you escape."

"I … I don´t understand that." he stuttered.

"Where do you think you are?" she asked him. Shawn looked around but had to give up. "This is your mind, Shawn." she said.

"Okay, that´s impossible." he argued. "My mind is by far not that foggy."

She chuckled. "No indeed. Your mind is very clear. Most of the time. Though it´s a little overloaded with useless stuff, I´ve noticed."

"Useless?" Shawn cried offended.

"I´m here to bring some order into this chaos." she explained patiently. "Because that´s the only way you can get out of here."

"Out of my mind?" Shawn repeated and laughed about that pun.

"I´ve watched you, Shawn." she told him. "For a while now. And not just you. Also Gabriel."

"Gabriel? You mean Sylar. You do know this man´s a killer."

"He doesn´t have to be." Marilyn said. "And he knows that. But the human mind is weak. And so he is what he is. He would probably cry for help if he´d just know that he needs it."

"Sorry, you just lost me here." Shawn said, shaking his head.

"Fact is, you both noticed the effects of my presence." Marilyn explained herself.

"You were the reason why I dreamed of him?"

She nodded. "And not only you. Your friends told you that they had those dreams too."

"Yeah, but … That´s normal after such an experience. I mean … that happens to everyone."

"Right. And that is the reason why my presence didn´t raise any suspicions." she agreed with a smile. "Because that´s what humans do with the things they can´t explain. They examine it, find it explainable and then they dismiss it. They find a scientific explanation, like your friend Gus prefers it. But this time it´s a little more complicated."

"What are you?" he asked her. "Some kind of a goddess?"

"Oh, Shawn, you really know how to flatter me." she chuckled. "No, I´m nothing like that. Far from that. I´m just someone who was born with a special gift. Just like Juliet. Or Peter. Or Sylar. My gift was it to wander peoples dreams. I never had any of my own, I only wandered other peoples dreams. That´s how I could manipulate yours."

"How?" Shawn shook his head. "Why?"

"It was necessary to prepare the ground. To help you find a way."

"A way?"

"Out of this prison, inside of your heads. In this dream if you prefer that. This nightmare. My brother brought you here. All of you. Because the mind is the most effective cage a human being can be put in. Because a normal human being could never escape this prison ever again."

"Your brother." Shawn repeated this one fact, she´d mentioned.

"You already met him." she nodded. "Frederic Roth."

"The sponsor of this firm?"

"That´s what he wants everybody to believe. For real he is the mastermind that is behind all this. He was born with a gift like mine, only his is much more aggressive. And he is insane, Shawn. He is driven by the thought to be the only one with a gift. That´s why he started to kill us all." She halted for a moment, before she spoke out her last truth: "That´s why he killed me."

"What?" Shawn cried. "Wait. You´re dead? But … how can you be here then? Are you … Are you some sort of a ghost?"

"No, Shawn." she said and her voice sounded a little sad now. "Not a ghost. Just a dream. I don´t know how it happened. I´ve lived in peoples dreams all my life. Maybe what you see here isn´t even the real me. Maybe it´s just a part of me, that I left in this sphere what people call their dreams. But how I came here is not important. Important is, that you understand how you can get out of here."

"How? How can I do that?"

"Alone you can´t do it at all." she said. "You have to do it together. All of you. That´s why I manipulated your dreams. To make you understand that you´re connected. It was easy to do for the four of you, you were close before. With Sylar it was a little more tricky. I´m sorry if these dreams cost you your peace, but I had no choice. It´s essential that he helps you. You all have to work together."

"How?"

"Concentrate." she told him. "You know how. If you want it, you can call your friends. They will hear you. Take them by their hands … metaphorically. Combine your minds."

"What you mean … like in Star Trek?" Shawn asked.

Marilyn smiled at him warmly. "If you want to see it that way. It is the only way to stand up against my brother. He will fight you with a force that cannot be defeated with guns or computer viruses. Freddy can only be beaten within his own mind. And you can only do that together."

Shawn lowered his gaze for a moment. "Will you come with me?" he asked uncertain. "You could help me …"

"I´m sorry, Shawn." she said, almost sad. "But that´s impossible. That´s not my part in this story. I´m just a voice in a dream."

"But …"

"You´re strong enough for this." she assured him. "And now go back. Before Lassie starts to mourn his pain in the ass fake psychic."

"Lassie? But why should he …?"

"He saw you getting shot, remember? He´s still trapped in that dream."

Shawn remembered. He wanted to ask her some more, so much more, but she only smiled at him and in this moment, her face was already fading before his eyes.

"Good luck." she said and then the darkness around him became brighter and brighter. From somewhere he could hear gunshots. They became louder and louder. And then they just stopped. A moment later a hand touched his shoulder.

Shawn turned around and looked up into the concerned eyes of Lassiter. The instant the detective looked at him, he frowned, confused.

"What the …?" he stuttered. "I … I saw you getting shot. I saw the bullet coming out of your head. How …?"

Shawn touched his face and found that it was indeed unharmed, just like Marilyn had told him.

"Lassie!" he cried and sat up. "Wow, that´s strange." he mumbled. But then he looked at Lassiter again. "What about you?" he cried. "Are you shot? If you are, don´t worry. It´s gonna be better."

"What?" Lassiter cried. "Spencer, what the hell is the matter with you?"

"Wait, where are the guards? The guys that shot me."

"Where will they be, I chased them off. Some of them are lying there." Lassiter pointed ahead and Shawn saw some dead guys lying at the end of the hall.

"They are not real." he said.

"What?"

"That´s what this woman told me. Just now. In my head. She said …"

"Spencer, so help me god, this is not the moment for one of your faked mumbo jumbo." Lassiter growled.

"Would you just listen to me." Shawn cried. "It´s not that. She´s one of them. Someone with an ability. Like Jules. And Sylar. She´s the sister of the guy who did all this."

Lassiter frowned. A good sign. That meant he was considering Shawn´s words. Ahead they heard a sound and swirled around. One single guard had come back for them and was aiming his gun at them. Lassiter was about to shoot but Shawn held him back.

"Spencer, are you out of your mind?" Lassiter cried.

"Not yet." Shawn replied and stood up.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lassiter cried and tried to pull him back to take cover.

"He can´t shoot us." Shawn objected. "He´s not real. I´ll prove it to you."

He walked a few steps, his arms spread, practically inviting the guy with the gun to shoot him. And of course his invitation was taken. Shawn felt the impact of at least three bullets in his chest and with a grunt he flew back, landing on his butt.

Lassiter immediately started to shoot back and drove fife bullets of his own into the shooter, sending him to the ground.

"You goddamn idiot." he cursed and went down next to Shawn.

The fake psychic coughed, blood trickling out of his mouth. But he was breathing. Alive. With wide eyes he looked down on himself and after a moment he pulled down his shirt, to see what the bullets had done to him.

He could watch the bullets coming back out of the wounds and the wounds closing right after that.

"Wicket." Shawn breathed and looked up at a stunned Lassiter. "You see?"

Lassiter could only shake his head. He didn´t know what to say.

"This woman told me that all of this is a dream." Shawn told him excited.

"A dream." Lassiter repeated, obviously not convinced.

"How else do you explain this?" Shawn cried, pointing at his chest. "Or that you chased off these guards all alone. How many were they? Ten? Fifteen?"

"Well, I can be pretty scary." Lassiter pointed out.

"Okay, but where did you get all the bullets from?" Shawn went on. "How often did you reload? Exactly. Not a single time. Does that make any sense?"

Finally it seemed to get through to the detective. "Goddammit." he breathed.

"That was you." Shawn cried excited. "You made the bullets keep coming, because you wanted it. You did it without knowing it. You see it now? This whole thing is a nightmare, made up by this guy Roth."

"It sure is a nightmare if I can´t shoot you." Lassiter finally commented the whole thing.

"Marilyn says to get out of here, we have to concentrate." Shawn went on. "Together. Then we could wake up."

"Wake up? Are you serious?"

"Just do it, Lassie." Shawn cried and then following an intuition, he took Lassiter´s hand. He threw the detective a glance and then closed his eyes.

The detective didn´t seem very happy with that idea but he closed his eyes anyway. He opened one of them again to check on Spencer. But the fake psychic wasn´t smirking or anything. He really seemed to concentrate. So Lassiter closed his eyes again and tried to do the same.

There were sounds in the distance again. Footsteps, of men closing in.

"They´re not real." Shawn reminded. "Don´t listen."

"Spencer, if that doesn´t work, I´ll kill you. Dream or not."

The steps came closer. Men were shouting. Guns were cocked. Everything in Lassiter screamed for him to jump up and fight. Shoot before they could shoot. But Shawn squeezed his hand, keeping him in place.

"Not really here." he reminded again. "It´s a dream. Wake up. Come on. Wake up."

"There they are." someone shouted, so close to them as if they were directly behind them.

"Wake up, Lassie. Wake up."

The sound of a gun was directly behind them. And then the shot rang out. Lassiter opened his eyes widely, gasping in shock. But the light of the hallway was gone and he couldn´t smell gunpowder the way he would if he´d just been shot. He lay on the ground but he was not bleeding. He wasn´t even in the hallway anymore. "Wow." Shawn cried next to him and sat bolt upright.

The two of them looked at each other and then scanned their surroundings. They were back in the cell where Shawn had found Lassiter. The door was still standing ajar the way it had been before the guards had found them. Everything around them was quiet.


	15. Coming Forth

**Coming Forth**

"I don´t believe it." Lassiter gasped, sitting up.

"Dude. We made it." Shawn cheered. "We beat them."

Lassiter looked at him still startled. "It was really just a dream?" he asked in disbelieve. "That is … so odd."

"Tell me about it." Shawn agreed. "I already woke up a second time now after I´ve got shot and now look at me. There isn´t even blood on me."

"You´re seriously complaining about that?"

"No. Just … well, it´s odd." "You sure we´re awake this time?" Lassiter asked uncertain.

"Ehm …well, ehm." Shawn hesitated. Then he reached out for the detective and pinched him.

"Ou." Lassiter cried and dragged his arm away from the fake psychic. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Does that hurt enough to be real?" Shawn asked and pinched him again, to be sure. Harder this time. Lassiter lost his patience and pinched him back – into the bad shoulder. Shawn opened his mouth at the unexpected pain and cried out. Lassiter was satisfied.

"Yeah." Shawn finally commented, hitting the back of his head against the wall. "That hurt enough to be real."

Lassiter nodded in agreement. "Great. Now that we settled this …"

"Let´s go and find Jules and the others." Shawn agreed.

After he didn´t see colored stars dancing before his eyes anymore, he followed Lassiter outside.

**...**

"No. Please no. This can´t be. There has to be a way out." Gus stumbled along the corridor.

"Gus." Juliet cried, desperately trying to keep up with him.

He just tried another door but it was locked just like the others. Finally he had enough and aimed the gun at the lock. Juliet tried to stop him but he´d already shot the door. It went open and Gus stormed through it. But all he found on the other side was another hallway, exactly the same as the one he just came out of.

Shocked and disturbed by what he saw, he halted and stumbled back. That was impossible. Next to him Juliet stared into that new corridor with the same amount of disbelieve. Gus didn´t even notice her. All he could think of was: Out. There has to be a way out. Corridors can´t go on and on forever. This building was only so big and even the cellar couldn´t go on forever. On some point they just had to reach an end.

He turned around, to the door opposite of the one he´d just broken and shot at that lock too. The effect was the same. He kicked it open and stared into another hallway. No difference at all.

"Oh, dear god." Juliet exclaimed.

Gus didn´t hear her. He went to the next door, shot the lock and broke through. Another hallway.

"No." he cried and ran to the next door.

"Gus, please." Juliet cried after him. "Stop that."

"There has to be a way out." he cried and fired at the door.

Again there was the sound of cracking wood when he kicked the door open. And again. And again. How often had she heard that sound by now? She couldn´t remember. Gus was panting. His breath was going too fast and on his forehead was sweat, making it shine in the bright and cold light of these endless hallways.

"It can´t be." Gus cried and finally lost his strength, going down to his knees. "Please, god, no. This is not possible."

Juliet walked over to him. Her own legs had started to shake long ago. How long were they already in here, looking for a way out? She couldn´t remember. It felt like years. The hope to find Shawn and Carlton had been left behind hours ago. After a while the instinct of the trapped animal had taken over everything else, eliminated every other thought but this one. Getting out. Getting free. But they hadn´t found a way out. Only these endless self-repeating corridors. And now she was tired. So tired. If it hadn´t been for Gus, she would have stopped running around long ago. But he had just not stopped. He´d panicked more and more and now his limit was finally reached.

Juliet dropped to the floor next to him. He had his head on his arms and his shoulders were shaking with desperate sobs. Juliet wanted to cry too but she was just too tired. She lay her arm around his shoulders, to let him know that he at least wasn´t alone in this endless hell of corridors. She didn´t understand it. How was it possible that there was no way out of here? How could they end up here? How? Why?

"Gus!" a voice echoed through the hallway. It was far away. "Gus! Jules!"

Gus raised his head, holding his breath and listened. "Shawn?" he gasped and immediately struggled up to his feet. "SHAWN, WE´RE HERE!" he yelled and started to run.

Juliet couldn´t do anything but follow him.

"WE ARE HERE!" Gus yelled and his voice was like a foghorn in these hallways, that it hurt Juliet´s ears.

At the end of this damn corridor, Shawn and Lassiter came running around the corner. Gus increased his speed one more time when he saw them and when he reached Shawn, he practically jumped at him, clinging to his friend like a drowning cat.

"Oh, thanks god." he gasped. "Thanks god that you found us. We couldn´t find the exit, we were looking like forever. Thanks god. Thanks god."

"It´s all right, dude." Shawn croaked. "Please, I can´t breathe. Literally."

"How can he strangle you, Spencer, if it isn´t real?" Lassiter argued.

"What do you mean it isn´t real?" Juliet asked confused. Lassiter noticed her tired face and supported her so she wouldn´t faint or something.

"We were running around for hours." Gus told them frantically, finally releasing Shawn. "These hallways, they are endless. I thought we´d never find the exit. Please tell me that you know where the exit is. Please."

"We do." Shawn said.

"Where is it?" Gus cried, looking around hectically.

"Dude, dude, dude." Shawn tried to gain his attention again. "I need you to calm down. Take a breath. In. Out. Okay? In and out. Calm down."

Gus obeyed and took some deep breaths, slowly getting a little calmer. "Where is the exit?" he asked again, his voice a little more even this time.

"It´s right here." Shawn said.

Gus looked around in confusion. So did Juliet.

"I know this will sound completely crazy." Shawn admitted, looking at both of them. "But all this … it´s not real. We´re in a dream."

"Shawn!"

"You´ve got to listen to him, Guster." Lassiter demanded sternly. "This time it´s not crazy what he´s talking. It´s true."

"How is that possible?" Juliet asked her partner but Lassiter could only shake his head.

"No idea." he said. "All I know is that I saw him getting shot in the face and when he stood up, he was fine and he told me about an … illumination or … close encounters of the third kind. I don´t know."

"It was a message." Shawn corrected. "Somebody tried to help me. She explained to me how to get out of this. We need to concentrate. All together. To wake up from this nightmare. So let´s just … take each others hands and … close your eyes."

"Are you serious?" Juliet asked uncertain.

"Believe me." Lassiter said. "I can´t believe it myself but yeah."

"Just trust me, Jules." Shawn said, looking into her eyes.

At last she nodded. Shawn looked at his friend and Gus saw the same seriousness in his eyes.

"All right." he said. His voice was still shaking but Shawn could see that he´d try it.

Shawn closed his eyes first, Lassiter almost simultaneously along with him. Maybe it was that what finally convinced Gus that this was not a joke. Shawn might be able to pull of something as ridiculous as this in such a situation, but Lassiter would never go along with it. When the detective was doing this, there had to be something about it. So Gus closed his eyes and tried to listen. A dream, Shawn had said. What to do to wake yourself up from a dream? But in the end he didn´t need to wake himself up.

"Wake up, dude." Shawn called him. "Come on, wake up. Dude. Wake up."

Faintly Gus could hear Lassiter´s voice too, how he said similar things to call Juliet. Neither of their voices came from beside him. They were somewhere in a distance, Gus could not name, and even less explain. Eventually he opened his eyes. Shawn´s face was hovering over him and when he saw that his eyes were open, he grinned.

"Dude, you made it." he cheered.

Gus sat up, looking around in confusion. He lay on the ground of a cell. The one cell where he´d found Juliet. But … they´d left this cell behind hours ago. He turned his head and saw Juliet sitting on the edge of the cot and she looked as confused as he felt.

"Crazy." he exhaled.

"Dude. Tell me about it." Shawn agreed and helped him to stand up.

Gus immediately ran to the door and looked out. The panic was already coming back.

"Oh, god." he breathed. "It´s starting all over again. It looks exactly the same."

Shawn was by his side at once and pinched him. Gus cried out in surprise and pain.

"Shawn. Are you out of your damn mind?"

"No, out of yours." Shawn said. "That´s the point. That´s not the dream anymore. We´re awake." He pinched him again to prove it and Gus instinctively hit out, hitting Shawn´s bad shoulder completely randomly. Shawn held his breath and squinted, his face turning reddish.

"Gus, you hurt him." Juliet cried and lay a caring hand on Shawn´s shoulder.

"He was pinching me." Gus defended himself.

"He´s right." Lassiter agreed. "But you panicked and he´s right too. So stop it now. The both of you."

At last Gus lowered his gaze, looking somehow ashamed of himself.

"Don´t worry, dude." Shawn said, finally breathing again. "The door to the staircase is right around the corner."

"Then let´s go." Gus left the cell as fast as a bolt of lightning.

"Not just yet." Shawn objected and stopped him in his tracks. "There´s still someone we have to get. They´re not far from here. And please …" he looked at the two detectives. "Don´t kill me, when I tell you who it is."

**...**

"Help me." Sylar tried to convince the mutated man that was crouching on the floor. "Help me stop them."

Just as Mohinder was about to give up on his desperate howling and turned his head around to him, finally considering his words, right in this moment, something new happened to him. Sylar only heard a gruesome tearing sound, as if cloth was torn apart and then Mohinder started to scream, writhing in pain.

Something came out of his back, pointy scales that looked like claws. The screams of the man were almost as awful and impossible to stand as the sound these scales made by breaking through the man´s skin. Dear god, how far could this mutation go?

Sylar started to struggle in this cocoon the scientist had spun him in. He had to get out of here. At last he could feel his hands again and a moment later they started to glow. The stuff, whatever it was the cocoon was made of, caught fire and soon Sylar was in the middle of a torch. The heat ate away his skin but he couldn´t afford to pay too much attention to it. It was the only way out of this goddamn thing. At last the cocoon tore open and Sylar fell down to the ground.

His skin was burning like hell, but somehow he managed to summon the willpower to pad out the fire on his shirt. When he struggled back to his knees, he could already feel the healing process kicking in. A few meters from him, he could see Mohinder writhing on the floor, still screaming in this agonizing pain his mutation must cause him. Sylar had no idea what to do.

And then something else happened. Something he had expected even less. The four dead people that lay by Mohinder suddenly opened their eyes and sat up. When they noticed the screaming thing next to them, they immediately jumped up and pressed themselves against the wall. Lassiter pulled his gun and aimed at Mohinder but Shawn hit his arms down before he could shoot.

"Don´t." he cried. "That´s Suresh."

"What?" Lassiter cried and looked at the thing before him, disgusted and shocked.

Shawn turned around and met Sylar´s eyes. The killer was still kneeling on the ground, totally taken aback by what just happened.

"This is going to be a little more complicated." the fake psychic found.

"Did he do this to him?" Lassiter asked, now aiming at Sylar. The killer had still no idea how to react to all of this.

"No no." Shawn cried. "At least … I don´t think so. Listen, this whole dream breaking thing is not an exact science, okay? I know only a little more than you do."

"Ehm, Shawn." Gus spoke up, touching the back of his head. "Why do I have a hole in my head?"

Shawn halted and looked at his friend, examining his forehead curiously. "Yeah, right." he found and couldn´t restrain a grin while looking at that hole.

"Shawn!" Gus snapped.

"What? _I_ was shot in the face. Do _I_ complain?"

"Shawn!"

"Dude, it´s just a dream. It´s not as if you would hear a whistling sound every time you walk on a windy day from now on."

"I´ll slap you, Shawn."

"What the hell is going on here?" Sylar shouted when he finally found his voice again and struggled to his feet.

The four dead people turned their heads to him.

"Oh, right." Shawn cried. "Sorry. All about you guys. Sorry. Ehm … It´s a little complicated …" he started a try to explain but in this moment the mutated man had given up on the business of just writhing and jumped at Shawn, grabbing his foot like a biting dog. The fake psychic skipped back in fear, screaming in a high pitching voice.

"Bring him off me, bring him off." he yelled and when Mohinder bit into his ankle, he screamed even louder, falling down on his butt.

Lassiter and Juliet tried to grab the raging man but he threw them off. He was just about to jump at Shawn again, when an invisible force grabbed him and pushed him back against the wall.

Shawn stared at the struggling mutant on the wall in shock. His mouth was still open but he had stopped screaming. Eventually he noticed Gus´ eyes on him. His friend had arched one eyebrow and looked down at him as if he were an idiot.

"Who is the baby now, Shawn?" he asked. "It´s just a dream, remember?"

"Dude, he bit me." Shawn cried. "I´m not even a postman. I mean what the hell?"

"Are you okay?" Juliet asked and helped him sit up.

"Sure. Sure." Shawn claimed. "I mean … it´s not real, is it?" He tried to grin but ended up grimacing when the very real pain shot up his leg from the not real bite wound.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sylar demanded to know.

He was still holding the fighting and hissing doctor in his telekinetic grip. His eyes rushed over the whole group of supposedly dead people and eventually came to a rest on Juliet. That was just impossible.

"How can you be alive?" he asked her. "I touched your skin. You were cold. Dead."

Juliet exchanged a glance with Shawn and then turned back to Sylar, trusting her feeling that he would believe her more than any of the others.

"I know this is hard to understand." she said stepping forward. "But this is not real." she looked around and at the thing that was Suresh. "He´s not … well … whatever he is."

"What happened to him?" Gus asked bewildered.

"A mutation." Sylar said. "His own invention. Long story. And I know only half of it. But I´m pretty sure that it wasn´t that bad the first time around."

"He was like that once already?" Gus cried in disbelieve.

"No." Sylar cried back. "Not like this. I …" he shook his head. "I don´t know what´s happening. He´s the scientist."

"It´s the dream." Shawn said. "The nightmare. This guy Roth wants us to go mad in here."

"Roth?" Sylar repeated.

"He had us imprisoned as well." Juliet spoke up again, first facing Sylar and then turning around to Mohinder. "But it wasn´t real and we got out." she told him, doing her best to make him look into her eyes. "We can get you out of here too. If you trust us, we can bring you back … where you are still … normal. Human."

The wild look in the eyes of that trapped animal became calmer. Somehow Juliet had gotten through to the part of him that was still Mohinder Suresh, the scientist. Her ability was working, even in the dream. People just had to feel for her. Mohinder was listening to what she said and Juliet stepped closer to him.

"Careful, Jules." Shawn warned but she just shook her head.

"He can´t hurt me." she stated. "This is just a dream. He is no monster. We can bring you back, doctor. Please. Let me help you."

She reached out a hand as if she invited him for a handshake. By now the dark eyes of the monster had taken on a human expression again. Desperate but human.

Sylar carefully released the beast from his invincible grip and allowed him to move again. Just a little. Juliet didn´t even seem to notice. She was looking into the doctor´s eyes and wouldn´t change that only for a second. Eventually the black eyes started to blink rapidly. There were tears running out of them. Juliet nodded understandingly.

"Come with us." she whispered. "We´ll help you."

"Listen to her, Mohinder." Sylar supported her. "You´re a scientist, man."

The mutation looked into Juliet´s eyes and then he broke down at last. Juliet caught him, wrapping her arms around him in a motherly way and went down to her knees, along with him. It was impossible but it really looked as if the monster was crying on her shoulder.

"It´s all right." she spoke to him in a soothing voice. "You can wake up now. Wake up. Wake up."

Everybody just stood around the two of them, watching Juliet strike Suresh´s back, even rooking him a little, in her effort to comfort the desperate man.

"It´s all right." she whispered. "Everything is all right now. The nightmare´s over. Wake up."

After a while Suresh finally looked up and around in astonishment. His whole face was wet. When he saw where he was, he looked at his hands. His skin was human skin. He started to breath rapidly at this discovery. He touched his hands and his face in disbelieve, only to find that it was real. He was normal. No sign whatsoever that spoke of any kind of mutation, no scales, no web between his fingers, nothing. A smile of pure happiness spread on his face and he started to laugh, embracing Juliet, so gratefully.

"Thank you." he sobbed relieved. "Thank you. Oh god, thank you. Thank you."

Juliet smiled, simply swept away by this overwhelming gratefulness, crying with him.

Next to Shawn, Gus started to sob too. Lassiter threw a glance at him and rolled his eyes.

"That´s unbelievable." Sylar said quietly. "We never left this cell? Nothing of this was real?"

For a moment, the others only looked at him without any reaction. But then Shawn made himself nod at the killer. Sylar mirrored his nod, almost grateful for the fact that he´d gotten an answer in the first place.

"How can we know that it´s not another dream again?" he then asked him.

Shawn exchanged a brief glance with Gus before he said: "Well … I would offer to pinch you. But …"

There was a tiny smirk on the killer´s lips.

**...**

The monitor in Roth´s office showed the hallway in which the fight between the security guards and the intruders had ended rather unconventionally and yet so simple, only a few minutes ago. Bennet watched the guards taking in Lauren and Gretchen. Both of them had been shot and were bleeding.

"What are you going to do with them?" he asked Roth.

"What do you mean?" Roth asked.

"They´re wounded. Will you give them some treatment? Or will you let them suffer?"

"You must think I´m a monster." Roth replied in a mocking tone.

"You ordered to kill people all over the country." Bennet recalled. "People of your own kind."

"As far as I know these two women are no Specials. Why should I want their death?"

Bennet studied the face of the man before him for a moment. "What about Claire?" he asked. "And Peter." But in this moment, he noticed a subtle change in Roth´s face and realized something. "You don´t have Peter yet, do you?" When Roth didn´t give an answer he just knew, that he was right.

"We´ll have him soon." Roth foretold him.

Noah smiled at this new information. "He´s still fighting you." he spoke it out.

"He won´t for much longer, I can assure you that."

Noah threw a look at the guard that had taken post at the office door. "Why do you keep me alive?" he asked Roth.

"You´ve proven resourceful in the past, Noah." Roth told him. "I want to offer you something. The life of your daughter for your services."

"You can´t kill Claire anyway." Bennet pointed out.

"But I can lock her up, for the rest of her life, what could be quite a while, we both know that. I offer her a better alternative than that."

Noah hesitated, trying to think the whole thing over. Surely there was a catch somewhere.

"Why should I believe you?" he asked. "You know I would demand that you´d let her go and you know what happens when you do that. She´ll keep fighting you."

"You misjudge the situation." Roth replied unimpressed. "You don´t have anything to demand. I offer Claire a better alternative than to be locked up in a cell. She can live on a … a mansion. Secured and watched of course but she would be free to move around that place as she pleases. Within a certain radius. And you could visit her once in a while."

"She´d never agree to that."

"She doesn´t have to. You do. Either that or I´ll put her in a tiny gray cell, a hose in her nose that pumps drugs up her pretty little brain. Or even better. I lock her within her own mind. Either way, she´ll never get out again. So think about it Noah, and think hard."

Noah did. He at least tried to, in the short time he had had at hand. "What about Lauren?" he asked. "And Gretchen?"

"What about them?"

"I want them too." Noah said, daring to raise the pot. "They are no threat to you. They don´t have abilities. Let them go."

Roth looked him over and there was a tiny twinkle in his eyes as if he enjoyed this bargaining. "You think you can control them?" he asked Noah.

"I guarantee it."

Roth nodded, still with this subtle smirk around his eyes. "All right." he said. "You´ve got them. So we have a deal?"

"We do." Noah said, hoping, praying to all gods that there were, that he was doing the right thing. The way things looked right now he didn´t see any other way out of this. At least this way he could save some of them.

"Good." Roth commented, his voice now cold and hard. "Then you may go out for your first assignment, Mr. Bennet. Bring me Peter Petrelli."


	16. Trust Issues

**Trust Issues**

Peter peered around the corner, watching how five men heaved the three wounded women onto stretchers. As far as he could see they were not wounded too bad. A few stitches and the injuries would be treated sufficiently. But they were in the hands of the Company now and he couldn´t take the chance that they´d treat them at all. So he waited for the right moment and when he was sure the guards were not paying attention, he attacked.

Taking out the guards was easy, with the strength and agility he´d gotten from Dr. Suresh. A minute after his attack had started, it was already over. But the really tricky part was to get the others away. He had three unconscious women and two of them were shot.

He quickly checked on Lauren and Gretchen and to his great relief, he truly found their wounds minor. Except for the fact that they were sedated, they seemed to be fine – or they would be fine, as soon as the wounds would be bandaged. What Peter didn´t understand was that Claire was unconscious too.

She wasn´t wounded – of course not, her body would heal every wound at once. But that was exactly the point. Her regenerating metabolism would also eliminate every sort of sedative at once, except it was given to her on a permanent base. And there was no hose in her nose or an IV on her arm or anything. So why was she unconscious? She shouldn´t be.

"She´s imprisoned within her own mind." Bennet´s voice startled him.

Peter flinched, looked up, into the unreadable face of Noah Bennet. He stood at the corner as if he´d watched him all this time.

"Where do _you_ come from?" Peter asked.

"I just arrived." was all Noah said, still way too calm.

Peter hesitated one more second, uncertain. But then his mind went back to Claire. "Within her mind?" he repeated. "How? Who did this?"

"A man named Frederic Roth." Noah told him, stepping up beside him. "He´s very powerful, Peter. But don´t worry. I have a plan to bring her back."

"What plan?"

Instead of receiving an answer, Peter felt a stitch in his neck. He swirled around, bewildered, staring into Noah´s unreadable eyes. Unreadable for people who didn´t know him. But even if Peter hadn´t known him, the empty shot Noah pulled out of his neck, was more than enough, to understand.

"What are you doing, Noah?" Peter stumbled back.

"I´m sorry, Peter." Bennet sighed. "I´m doing this for Claire."

Slowly Peter´s vision started to blur. It became harder to keep his balance every second. Still he was conscious enough to realize that the guards he´d knocked out earlier, were not as unconscious as he´d believed them to be. The men got up, even got accompanied by some more. They started to surround him.

Noah seemed to stand in their midst as if this was completely normal. His gaze was sad. But he wouldn´t do anything to help Peter either. "She´ll never … forgive you." he brought out, before he broke down to his knees.

The last thing Peter heard before everything around him went dark, was Noah´s response. Sad, once again, accepting.

"I know."

**...**

Bennet gently stroke his daughter´s cheek, barely touching. He sighed. Next to him Peter lay on the ground, unconscious, helpless. Noah knew what he´d done. He knew it very well. And he also knew that Peter was right. As soon as Claire found out what he´d done, that he´d traded Peter for her, she wouldn´t only be mad with him, she would downright hate him. "You did well, Noah." he heard the voice of Roth, coming from above him.

Noah looked up, to the camera and loudspeaker under the ceiling. Around him the guards took the stretchers, ready to bring the sleeping women away.

"We had a deal." Noah reminded, looking straight into the camera.

"And it will be kept." Roth´s voice answered. "The women will be taken care off and Claire … as well."

Noah looked after her, until the stretcher with his daughter was gone around the corner. He hoped he´d done the right thing. Even if she´d hate him for that, all a father could do was trying to protect his child. He needed a few seconds, to tear his mind away from Claire and back to Peter.

"What will happen to him?" he asked, turning back to the camera.

For a while there was only silence answering him. But then Roth spoke up again. He didn´t address Noah, though.

"Henderson." he said and one of the guards straightened. "Finish him." Roth ordered.

Noah stared at the man next to him, shocked. The guard grabbed his gun, ready to use it and Noah´s head flew around, staring into the camera. Not that he hadn´t known Roth´s goal, to kill all Specials, but to stand by and watch Peter being shot, knowing that he was the one who´d made it possible …

He wanted to stop the man, wanted to drag the gun out of his hand and knock him out. But he couldn´t. He was outnumbered and even if he wasn´t. He had to think about Claire. So he didn´t do anything.

The guard cocked his gun and aimed it at Peter. At his head. And then everything happened too fast for Noah to even compute.

"Freeze, douchbags!" someone shouted through the hallway, making all the guards swirl around.

Before they had a chance to aim at their unexpected attackers, their guns got dragged out of their hands by an invisible force. The clattering sounds when they hit the ground were followed by the surprised groans of the men, when the same force shoved them backwards, against the wall. A moment later the guards had guns in their faces, held by two detectives and two civilians.

Noah´s mind had only so much as taken in the fact that the situation had changed completely. That those detectives and the two civilians, on which he´d never raised a bet on, were accompanied by Sylar the serial killer. And then all the sudden, he faced a gun of his own – held by a very grim looking Indian scientist. Noah slowly raised his hands.

"What´s going on here, Noah?" Mohinder demanded to know. "What are you doing?"

"Please, let me explain." Noah said. He glanced at Sylar, who knelt down next to Peter, checking his pulse. "Roth made me do this." Noah explained. "I tried to save Claire and the others."

"By sacrificing Peter?" Sylar snapped.

Bennet threw him a glance. "You´re hardly the right person to judge me for this."

"But I am." Mohinder said, inching the gun a little closer to Noah´s face. "You were the one who brought me here. You sent me on this mission. I believed you were earnest."

"I was. I still am." Noah assured him. "Please. Before we go on. You need to disable this camera up there. He´s watching us through it."

They all looked up, at the spot Bennet had pointed at and a moment later, the camera got hit by two bullets. One from Lassiter´s gun and one from Shawn´s. The surprised glance they both shared afterward, was followed by a smirk.

**...**

In his office, Roth looked at the now gray screen of his surveillance monitor, huffing angrily. Eventually he turned his attention to another monitor. The one that showed him the infirmary of this building. Claire Bennet lay there, on her stretcher, still peacefully asleep. Roth smiled.

"Seems your daddy doesn´t quite understand the meaning of the word agreement." he said into the empty room. "Maybe we should do something about it, what do you say?"

Claire of course didn´t react to his words. But that was all right. He didn´t need her to react to him. She´d react to something else instead.

With a determined smile on his lips, he stared at her image on the screen and concentrated. He would have to dig deep.

**...**

"You´ve got to believe me." Bennet said. "I didn´t want this. But this man we´re fighting here has something I didn´t foresee. He´s one of them. Of you."

"We know." Shawn said. "He´s a mind controller."

"Right." Bennet affirmed, startled. "He showed me you guys lying in the cells. After what he told me, you should be imprisoned within your minds. Just like Claire. How did you get out?"

"We had some help." Shawn said.

"From whom?"

"That´s not important now." Lassiter said, coming back to the gathering after he and Juliet had locked the guards in a small room. "There are more urgent things right now. For example. How do we know that we can trust you? Maybe we should lock him up with the others."

"Please." Bennet begged. "I only tried to protect my daughter. Roth said there was no one left that could fight him. But now that you´re free …"

"You´ll change sides again?" Lassiter asked, daring.

"I never was on Roth´s side." Bennet emphasized.

"It doesn´t quite look that way." Gus pointed at Peter.

"Roth extorted me. I saw no other way than to do what he wanted."

"He´s telling the truth." Sylar stated, matter of factly, making everybody look at him. "I can tell." he pointed at his own head, indicating a complying ability, and shook his head. "But right now we don´t have the time to judge the morally gray Noah Bennet anyway. We´ve got to take care of Peter. And then we have to take care of Roth."

"Great plan." Lassiter said, sarcastically. "And how do you suggest we do that?"

"There must be some anti tranquilizer somewhere in the building." Sylar replied. "You think one of our friends in there might know  
>where?"<p>

Lassiter turned his head halfway to the door, his eyes never leaving Sylar. It was Juliet who went to the door, ready to open it, if he wouldn´t. Lassiter hurried after her, cursing under his breath.

When he reached her, he didn´t need to say it. She understood him without words. Shawn came to their support, just before Lassiter opened the door. They kept the captured men at gunpoint, while Lassiter eyed them, warily.

"You." he pointed at one. "Come out."

The man obeyed. After the door was locked again, Lassiter pushed him against the wall.

"We need something to wake this man up." he hissed, pointing at Peter. "You´ll tell us where to find the medicine for that and you don´t wanna lie to me, pal."

The man looked into Lassiter´s stern eyes and then around, at the rest of them.

"The infirmary is highly secured." he told them. "You´ll never get there. But there is a medicine cabinet downstairs. There´re no guards posted there tonight."

"All right." Lassiter nodded and pushed the man forward. "Lead the way."

**...**

It was the production hall they were led to. A big unlit hall, work benches standing everywhere, some of them still littered with the remains of today´s work. The guard led them to a door in the back of the hall. It was a small room with only one table, a chair and a few shelves.

Mohinder lay Peter down on the table, while Sylar cracked the lock of the little medicine cabinet. The others gathered at the door, waiting, watching them.

"Which one is it?" Sylar asked, looking at Mohinder helplessly.

The scientist reached past him, picking the right bottle without a word. He looked at Peter, hesitating.

"I´ll need something to inject it." he realized, already searching the shelves with his eyes.

Shawn looked around the hall. When he spotted something on one of the nearest benches, he picked it up.

"How about this?" he offered, returning to the cabinet.

Mohinder looked at the little device for a moment. He didn´t seem too happy about the idea of using a tool that was meant to put microchips together for a needle, but he took it anyway.

"I´ll try." he said and immediately started to work.

"You need anything?" Sylar asked. "Can I help you somehow?"

"Don´t distract me." Mohinder said without looking at him and kept working.

Sylar remained where he was for another minute, before he turned around and left the room.

Bennet eyed him warily, but so did almost everybody, so there was nothing he could do about it.

"We should secure the doors." Lassiter decided. "They´ll come for us very soon."

Some of the others nodded, in agreement, and Sylar heard a very faint, almost inaudible sound, coming from the other end of the hall. He turned around, and spotted the source of that sound.

His reaction was pure instinct – he jumped forward and grabbed Juliet, swirling her around.

"Look out!" was all he managed to cry, before the bullets started to hammer into his back.

Juliet cried out, in shock and actually tried to catch his fall when he went down. But only for a second, before Shawn grabbed her arm, dragging her away, to take cover behind a working bench.

Immediately the air was full of shots, coming from both directions. It was like a positional warfare, with them here and the others over there. They even had their own personal first body lying on the frontline. Sylar didn´t move anymore so he was at least temporally dead.

Lassiter was in his element. He was shooting with two guns at once, as if he were in a western. After he´d emptied his clips, he cried for Gus, to take over for him. Gus, his back pressed into the bench, stared at him wide eyed, but when he faced the demanding gaze of the detective, he did his best to obey. He held the gun over the edge of the bench and blindly shot into the air. Lassiter reloaded his guns and took over again.

Behind the second bench, Shawn was shooting too, taking turns with Juliet, until his clip was empty.

The only one that didn´t even think about shooting to hold back these attackers, was the guard that had led them here. In this whole ultimately life threatening situation, he´d been pretty much forgotten and when he realized his advantage, he hurried to make his move, over to the small closet. His task had been to take out this one Special and now he had a chance to take out two of them. Petrelli and this scientist. He grabbed a sharp tool from the working bench in alternative for a gun, but this funny doctor he could take out with a kitchen knife if necessary. And an unconscious man would be no problem either. So while the others were busy trying not to get shot, he snuck through the door, into the small back-room.

He was ready to attack immediately, expecting to find the scientist bowed over Petrelli or crouched in a corner in fear. But instead he only found the still unconscious Petrelli on the table, no sign of Suresh whatsoever. What the hell?

He was about to look around, but he didn´t get to finish his turn. Something hit him on the nose, from out of nowhere and he stumbled back. It took him only a few seconds to find his orientation again and he was ready to attack whoever´d dared to hit him. He raised the tool he´d brought as a weapon, ready to stab his attacker in the heart, and was rewarded with the muzzle of a gun.

"Drop it." Suresh demanded.

The Company guard grabbed his own weapon a little tighter. But so did Suresh.

"I wouldn´t do that." the scientist warned. When the guard still hesitated, he shook his head, once, very quick. "Back off, man. I´m a scientist."

Finally the guard realized that a stabbing tool was no match for a gun, held by an obviously mad scientist and opened his fist. The tool fell to the ground and a moment later, the guard followed, efficiently knocked out by Suresh´s elbow.

**...**

Outside Bennet was crouching behind the bench not so far from Shawn and Juliet.

"Give me a gun." he cried over the noise of the shooting.

Shawn threw him an estimating glance, only for a few seconds before he had to keep shooting.

"I can help." Bennet insisted. But in this moment a gun got cocked, only a few feet behind him.

"No, you can´t." a totally unexpected voice said.

Bennet turned around and looked into the stone cold eyes of his daughter … and the muzzle of the gun she was aiming at him.

**...**

Inside the back-room, Mohinder waited for Peter to wake up, hoping that he hadn´t poisoned him by using this bad excuse for an injection needle. But then the young man opened his eyes, blinking at him, confused.

"Mohinder." he mumbled. "What´s going on?"

But the newest shots that rang out behind them, were already answer enough. A few bullets found their way through the open door, and Mohinder cried out, doubling over, holding his bleeding shoulder.

Peter reacted on instinct and rolled himself off the table, grabbing Mohinder on his way down and dragged him into cover.

**...**

"How could you do this?" Claire asked, an expression of pure hate in her eyes.

Bennet thought he´d never seen her face so hard ever before. And this hate was meant all for him.

Shawn and Juliet glanced at her too, unable to decide what to do. Claire was standing in a dead spot, so she was not effected by the shooting that still went on in the hall. What also meant she could totally focus on aiming at her father.

"Listen, Claire." Shawn tried to speak up and immediately faced the muzzle of her gun.

"You stay out of this." she demanded. "I mean it."

"Please, Claire." Bennet begged and the gun went back to him. "I was only trying to protect you."

"She´s not talking about you sedating Peter." the slurred voice of Sylar spoke up, behind him.

They all turned around. The killer leaned against the corner of the working bench, his shirt covered with blood. He was panting but his eyes were clear.

"There´s something else behind it." he said, looking at Claire. "Roth did something to her. To her mind. She´s not herself."

"I´m more myself than ever." Claire assured him. "You betrayed us all." she accused her father. "You are the reason why Gretchen is dead. You let her die and Lauren. And you claimed that you loved her. There is nothing in this world that means anything to you, is there?"

"That´s not true, Claire." Bennet said. "And Gretchen and Lauren are not dead. They are alive."

"Stop lying to me!" Claire shouted. "I saw them both die. And you … you just stood there and watched. But you won´t hurt anyone anymore. I´ll make sure of it."

"Claire, please don´t."

"Claire." Sylar slowly crawled past Shawn and Juliet, his eyes on the girl with the gun. "You have to fight these memories. They´re not real. Roth planted them in your head, to drive you against us. You´re stronger than this. Come on, you know your father wouldn´t do something like that."

"Shut up." Claire demanded, her voice trembling with tears. "You´re both murderers."

Sylar reached Noah, but he didn´t look at him.

"I´m a murderer." he told Claire, using the moment of distraction to place himself between her and Noah. "So if you need to shoot someone, then shoot me." he said.

Shawn raised his brows, stunned over this scene. The way Sylar knelt there, his arms spread and Noah in his back, it almost looked as if he was proposing.

Claire pulled back her own tears once again. She shook her head, the anger returning to her. And then she just pulled the trigger, with no warning, her eyes as cold as ice.

Sylar flinched when the bullet hit him but he didn´t move away. He even smiled.

"It´s all right." he said. "I guess, I deserve that … But your father doesn´t. Especially not from you."

Claire shot him again, the rage in her eyes getting stronger. Again Sylar doubled over, when the pain shot through his abdomen. He supported himself with one hand, panting heavily, but he was still standing his ground. Shawn felt strangely reminded of a certain day on the pier, a few months ago.

"Look at him, Claire." Sylar kept talking. "Look into his eyes and tell me if you can truly believe that he did, what Roth made you see."

Claire looked at her father and for a moment, the hate in her eyes softened a little. But the moment passed and she aimed her gun at Noah´s head. The shot rang out and Bennet flinched. But he wasn´t hit. Sylar was. He´d jumped into the line of fire, caught the bullet for him one more time. This time he didn´t flinch longer than a second and out of the movement, he lunged at Claire. His attack came so unexpected to her that she lost her gun, almost instantly. Bennet lunged forward as well, grabbing his daughter, trying to fend her furious attacks,when she tried to fight him.

Shawn and Juliet were so intrigued by that scenario that the shooting behind them was forgotten.

Eventually Bennet had his daughter in a relatively fast grip, despite her persistent efforts to free herself. Sylar took her face in his hands, making her look at him.

"You must stop that, Claire." he said. "This is not you. Wake up, Claire. Wake up."

"What are you doing?" Bennet asked.

"Waking her up from that nightmare."

Sylar threw a brief glance over his shoulder at Shawn and Juliet, before he faced Noah again.

"You´ve got to help me." he said. "She´ll rather listen to you than to me. Come on. Wake up, Claire. Wake up. Wake up."

Noah watched the killer, talking to his daughter. Claire was still struggling, trying to avoid the killer´s gaze. But her struggles had eased, just a little. When Noah finally chipped in, it was the pure desperation, Shawn could tell. He might have done anything in this moment, if it promised him to get his daughter back. The one that was mad with him for blowing her outcome to the world, but who didn´t want to shoot him in the head.

"Wake up, Claire." he spoke along with the murderer. "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."

Eventually, Claire´s struggles stopped, and then her legs gave in. She just broke down, boneless. Noah caught her, going down to his knees along with her, holding her like a little child. Claire´s hands found the cloth of his sleeves and she clung to it, her shoulders rocking. She was crying.

"It´s all right, Claire-Bear." Noah said, rocking her gently. "I´m here. Everything´s all right." He squeezed her a little tighter, placing a kiss on her head, and another one.

„Aaawww." Shawn exclaimed, moved by this amazing scene before him.

He was about to throw a dreamy glance at Jules, to share that warm feeling with her, this scene had caused in his stomach. And then all the sudden, the hall around them seemed to explode.


	17. Nightmare On Durham Street

**Nightmare on Durham-Street**

A huge and violently loud crash rang out, as if the ceiling of the whole production hall had just come down. Shawn, Juliet and everybody else who was with them behind their bench, flinched at this terrible impact. Even Claire seemed to have woken up now and two big eyes stared out of her father´s arm. Nothing of Roth´s created dream could have survived this scare she´d gotten just now. There was no other way for her but to be back to the real world. If this crash meant something bad, it had at least caused one good thing.

"What just happened?" Bennet whispered into the following silence.

After the echo of the crash had ebbed away, everything was quiet. The shooting, that had filled the air so far, had stopped.

Shawn and Juliet exchanged a worried glance. Slowly they turned around and rose up, to peek over the edge of the bench. They expected almost everything, from an explosion to a half gone hall. But what they really saw, was completely unexpected. What the hell …?

Where the door had been there was now a working bench, lying on its side like the tossed away toy building block of a child. The cloud of dust it had caused, was still settling. All around it there lay people, unconscious or dead after the shooting that had lasted until the bench had ended it. It was the bench that had served Lassiter and Gus as cover earlier. Now the two of them were standing there, along with Peter and Mohinder, obviously in no need for cover any longer. The way things looked, they´d found a better usage for it.

Lassiter nodded, an approving smirk on his lips and looked at the two Specials.

"Not bad." he said.

Gus who´d just come around after the shock as it seemed, cheered in victory.

"Peter." Sylar cried and rushed over to the younger man, hugging him in an almost brotherly way. "Good to see you´re back from the dead." he chuckled.

The reaction on Peter´s side was a little more hesitant though. He looked at Sylar very uncertain, as if he tried to decide if he should greet him as heartily as Sylar´d greeted him, or if he´d rather accuse him of something. Probably of how many people he´d killed.

When Sylar realized this, his smile faded. He opened his mouth, to say something, but Peter stopped him.

"We talk about everything else later." he said with the most serious face Shawn had ever seen, except maybe for Lassie. "For now we have to finish something." Peter stated.

Sylar nodded, in hesitant agreement. Then his eyes fell on Mohinder and his bloody shoulder. "Mohinder, you´re hit." he reached out for the scientist but Suresh skipped back, avoiding the touch.

"I´m fine." he assured him with a tiny smile that was as uncertain as Peter´s gaze had been before. His hand lay protectively on his hurt shoulder. The message was clear enough. There simply was no time for more treatment of wounds right now. They´d brought Peter back around but that was all the loss of time they could afford.

Lassiter´s eyes fell on one of the guards he´d shot earlier in the battle. A woman. But her face was halfway covered with hair, hanging loose, dirty with dust. Lassiter knew it was probably senseless, but he couldn´t help. He needed to know. So he walked over to her and went to his knees to brush the hair away.

"What is it, Carlton?" Juliet asked, frowning curiously.

He looked up at her, one brow arched, almost amused. "Maria Takolov." he said, pointing at the dead woman before him. Her hands were still clinging to her MP.

Juliet looked at the face of their earlier suspect, from a case that seemed to be a lifetime ago, and just couldn´t believe it.

"Guess you were right about her after all." she finally managed.

"We need to move on." Bennet spoke, to get all of their attentions back. He and Claire stood in their midst, as if to gather the team at last, for the final battle.

"Roth is still in the building and still aware of what we´re doing." the man with the glasses told them and looking at his daughter he added: "He has Lauren and Gretchen. And he will send more men for us."

"Actually, no, he won´t." a new voice echoed through the hall, making them all swirl around.

And there he was. Standing in the hall amongst his dead and wounded men as if they were just some thrown away junk. "There is no sense in sending more men after you." Roth told them. "The old saying seems to be true after all. If you want something to be done right, you´ve got to do it yourself."

Lassiter immediately aimed his gun at him. "Frederic Roth." he shouted. "You are under arrest for so many crimes that I don´t even want to get started on them."

"You can´t arrest him." Bennet cried desperately. "Shoot, before he can use his power on us."

Lassiter hesitated one more second, the cop in him that was used to only shoot if there was immediate threat demanding that he reconsidered this idea. But the things he´d seen over the last hour, reminded him of the fact that there was indeed an immediate threat existent here.

So he pulled the trigger.

Only that no bullet came out of his gun. Only an empty click. And another. And another. He was sure the gun was loaded. He´d reloaded it just before Suresh and Petrelli had ended the shooting so elegantly. He tried again but still nothing happened.

Next to him, Sylar obviously didn´t want to wait for him to figure out the loss of his bullets and reached out his hand, to take care of Roth himself. The effect was the same like with Lassiter´s gun. Nothing happened. The murderer stared at his open hand, flabbergasted.

Peter scowled at Roth and bolted for him, to attack him personally. But halfway to him he ran into something. As if there was a wall, or a forcefield, or something similar, that kept him from going further. It was as if Roth had said, you may go that far but no further.

Sylar joined Peter but he had no chance against this invisible border either. The rules of physics seemed to have changed.

"I tried to be fair with you." Roth said, looking at Bennet as if they were the only two people in the hall. "But obviously you don´t appreciate our agreement. Now my patience is gone."

As if to underline his statement the ground beneath their feet started to shake.

"What´s happening now?" Peter cried, trying to keep his feet connected with the ground, just like everybody else.

"He´s doing it again." Shawn cried, desperately trying to be heard over the roaring of the shaking ground. "That´s not really happening."

But in that moment, the shaking showed effect, on the structure of the building and a huge crack ran over the ground, the walls, the ceiling. The tearing sound, when the concrete cracked was so loud that they all had to cover their ears, to not to become deaf. The crack tore open, wider and wider, steel, stones and dust flying around like avalanches, until practically the whole building seemed to be split in half. Peter and Sylar who stood closest to the edge swayed, struggling to not to fall.

"You think that isn´t real?" Roth shouted over to them, laughing.

Over them, in the ceiling, cables snapped when the exertion became too much. The lights that had illuminated the hall so far went out, all at once. Sparks flew out of the cables and a minute later, a whole curtain of big loose cables was hanging down, all of them sizzling under the still high voltage, frequently spitting sparks into the now dark hall. When one of them seemed to jump forward like a snapping snake, Gus and Shawn skipped back, screaming high and loud. They bumped into Lassiter and Juliet and shoved them backwards along with them.

A few feet away, Bennet had grabbed his daughter and dragged her out of the reach of those cables as well.

After the shaking of the ground had stopped, Peter fixed his eyes on Roth. The pit between them was over ten feet but that didn´t seem to lower the young man´s determination. Trusting the powers he´d gotten from Suresh, he jumped, ready to grab Roth as soon as he was on the other side. Only that he never reached the other side. The invisible wall was still there. Only this time, Peter had no floor to hit after the impact threw him down. He bounced off the forcefield and fell down, into the pit.

"Peter!" Sylar cried.

He and Suresh hurried to the edge of the pit. They spotted Peter, hanging on a piece of iron that stuck out of the torn open floor, one story beneath them. He was in the process of climbing back up when some cables came shooting up at him and wined themselves around his waist. Peter groaned, startled, and clung to the bar, to not to get dragged down.

Sylar forced his eyes away from this sight, to glare at Roth.

"Want to join him?" Roth asked and only a second later, more cables came out of the pit, this time grabbing Sylar to drag him down.

It all happened so fast that the usually multigifted murderer had no chance to react, let alone resist. The possessed cables wound themselves around his legs and then he was thrown to the ground and pulled over the edge. He tried to grab something, to hold onto it, but it all slipped through his fingers, completely useless. Then he lost contact to the edge and just fell … until his fall was stopped, by a hand grabbing his wrist.

The cables kept pulling on his legs, the force of it stretching him painfully. But the hand that held him was strong and when he looked up, he looked into Mohinder´s face. For a moment, he almost couldn´t believe it. There he was, the man that had wanted to kill him, that had hated him like no one else. And now he was lying on the edge of that pit, clinging to his hand, trying to save him. Beneath him the cables pulled harder and Sylar felt his fingers slip out of Mohinder´s hand.

Behind Mohinder, still trapped behind the hanging cables, Shawn had given up on the screaming and instead tried to open up his mind. This was exactly like that other stuff, Roth had done before. Well, maybe not exactly like before, but the idea was the same. Making them see something that wasn´t real, to keep them in place. Since Shawn didn´t believe this guy Roth could also make the earth shake and other things come to life, the odds were pretty good that this was another one of his dreams.

Of course it was. That´s what Marilyn had warned him about. But damn, it was convincing. More than that, it was freaking scary. But he had to try. So he left Gus and the others behind and dared to approach the cables. If he just believed it, he would be able to cross them without getting fried.

"Shawn!" Juliet screamed after him, in terror and he stopped, dead in his tracks.

"Are you out of your damn mind, Shawn?" Gus cried. "Come back here."

"It´s just a dream, don´t you see?" he tried to tell them and simultaneously convince himself.

"No, I don´t see." Gus cried back. "All I see is that there are thousands of volts running through those cables. So now come back here."

"I have to try!" Shawn insisted but in this moment one of the cables jerked again and when it came at him, he heard Jules and Gus and Lassiter, all of them cry out for him. Then the cable struck him and at least ten thousand volts of electricity ran through his body.

Every muscle in his body tensed and he was shaken violently. It felt like an eternity in which he didn´t feel anything but the pain that filled his entire body and mind, and couldn´t hear anything but the horrified screams of his friends, who had to watch him writhe completely helpless. As helplessly as he was. His mind knew very well that it would be better to jump aside and away from that aggressive cable, but somehow his body just couldn´t comply, no matter how much he wanted it.

At last the cable jerked again, releasing him. But with the electricity everything else went away as well, as if this had been the last string that had attached him to this life. His muscles relaxed and his mind stopped working. A moment later, he just broke down, to the ground, limp, not moving anymore.

Gus fell down to his knees, quickly crawling over to Shawn. He grabbed his collar and pulled him back with him as fast as he could, before another cable could jump at him.

"Is he all right?" Juliet cried, her breath high and much too fast. "Please tell me he is all right!"

"Shawn." Gus called his friend but Shawn lay limp in his arms, not reacting to anything.

"Did that feel real enough for you?" Roth´s voice called over to them.

Noah and Claire who´d watched the whole thing from their own corner, looked over at Roth in shock. Claire wanted to bolt through the cables, trusting her healing abilities, but Noah held her back.

"He disabled Sylar´s powers, he could have disabled yours too." he cried.

Down in the pit, Sylar had turned his head a little at Roth´s shouting too, but a moment later he had to focus on his own situation again. His fingers were slipping more and more out of Mohinder´s hand and soon he would lose it for good. He took all the strength he´d left and reached up, with his second arm, to grab Mohinder´s wrist. He had to struggle to get his hand high enough. The cables were still pulling him down.

Mohinder lay at the edge and had no idea what else to do. Peter was hanging far too deep down for him to reach him and Sylar was slipping away. The others behind him were trapped and just now one of them had payed the prize for underestimating Roth. If he´d believed to be in a nightmare earlier, he now had to learn that there was always room for aggravation.

He closed his eyes when the pain shot through his wounded shoulder, on which he was lying. When he opened them again and looked down, his heart skipped a beat. There were scales growing on the back of his hand again. And not just there. His sleeve had slipped up and he could see that the scales ran along his whole arm. Sylar´s hand stopped, an inch before this scaled wrist. Of course he was reluctant to touch those.

While Mohinder looked at his own skin he could see them grow. Too fast. Too much. It happened again. And then Sylar´d overcome his initial shock and his hand grabbed Mohinder´s wrist. Not hesitantly like someone who was afraid, but tight and fearless.

"It´s not real, Mohinder." he pressed the words out, while trying to not to be torn in half. "Don´t believe it. That´s what he wants."

Again the cables pulled at him and again he lost some of his grip on the scientist´s hand. Mohinder reached down his second arm, to make up for it. It didn´t help much, and the pain in his shoulder was agonizing.

"Nothing of this is real." Sylar croaked. His eyes darted down to Peter for a moment, to make sure he´d heard him as well. But Peter was struggling and he had no one to support him.

"_Hang on, Gabriel."_ a female voice told him all the sudden. _"You can make it."_

Sylar blinked and tried to look around, but he couldn´t see anyone. This voice. She´d almost sounded like his mother.

"_Shawn!"_ Marilyn called now. _"Shawn, you must wake up. Wake up, Shawn. They need you. Come on. Remember what I told you. You can do it. Shawn!"_

Shawn opened his eyes and for a moment he thought he had flashes before his eyes. But then he realized that what he saw were no effects of his eyes, but real flying sparks. No, not real sparks. Nothing of this was real. It was an illusion created by Roth. But one thing was real. The tears he felt dropping down on his face. He looked up and when Jules saw him awake, her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide. She tried to say something but there were only sobs coming out of her throat.

"I know." he said and gave her a comforting hug. "I know, you thought I was dead."

He looked at Gus and Lassie who stared at him as well. Gus´ face was wet. Lassie´s was pale.

"I told you it´s not real." he said, releasing Juliet and his own voice wasn´t so steady either. "You believe me now?"

Instead of waiting for an answer he stood up and approached the cables one more time. Juliet grabbed his arm, to drag him back, but he resisted.

"It´s a dream, Jules." he told her, facing all three of them. After that his gaze searched Bennet and Claire and found them. They looked over at them, confusion on their faces.

"I´m all right!" he assured them. "It´s a dr..."

In this moment, Bennet got shot from out of nowhere, by at least six bullets, that threw him to the ground. Claire cried out, kneeling down beside him. There was blood all over her father´s chest and when she attempted to touch him her hands began to shake in fear.

Shawn looked ahead, at Roth.

"It won´t work, Freddy!" he cried and then turned to his friends again, shouting as loud as he could, to make sure they´d all hear him, even the ones hanging in the pit. "We must not fall for this!" he yelled. "Nothing of this is real. Bennet, you´re not hit by anything. He´s a mind controller, not a telecommunist."

"Telecinetic, Shawn." Gus corrected automatically.

"Exactly!" Shawn cried. "This is all an illusion. He can´t harm us if we don´t let him. We … we need to concentrate. All together! You hear me? Concentrate! We need to wake up. Wake up from this nightmare! Come on! Wake up! Wake up!"

"Don´t bother." Roth cried. "You´ll only strain your simple mind."

"Don´t you worry about me!" Shawn shouted back at him. "Just get the hell out of my dreams. Come on, guys, don´t let me down! I can´t do this alone! Wake up! Wake up!"

"Wake up." Juliet joined him, hesitantly at first. But when Gus and Lassiter joined in, she lost the insecurity in her voice. Shawn felt a strange pride inside of him. He closed his eyes and set his mind to this one thought, they all had to combine.

Wake up.

Juliet´s hand found its way into his and then he could even hear her voice in his head. And following hers, also Gus´ and Lassie´s.

Wake up. Wake up.

Down in the pit, Sylar looked up at Mohinder, who was growing more and more pointy scales each second. On his hands and by now also in his face. Roth´s last try to shatter the scientist´s hope. Sylar looked in his now fully black eyes and nodded at him, reassuringly.

"It´s a dream, Mohinder." he said. "Come on. Wake up. Wake up."

The desperate look in the geneticist´s eyes became stronger again. When Sylar was sure that Suresh had understood, he threw a glance down, to Peter, and the young man gave him a nod. All together they closed their eyes and concentrated. Concentrated on the fact that nothing of this was real, on waking up from this nightmare.

Again the ground started to shake, but this time they didn´t react to it, just kept their eyes closed, only focusing on these two words they repeated in their minds over and over again.

Wake up. Wake up.

By now the voice of their own mind was accompanied by others too. By Shawn´s, Juliet´s, Claire´s, Bennet´s, until all of their voices were combined in each of their minds, drowning the sounds the building made while slowly breaking apart. And then all the sudden, it was silent around them. The lights were back on and when they opened their eyes, there was no pit anymore and no cables were hanging down from the ceiling. The walls were intact and everything else looked exactly like before.

Peter, Sylar and Mohinder were lying on the ground where the pit had been in the dream, the two later still joined at their hands. Now, when they found that everything had been set back to normal, they all looked around, astonished.

Mohinder immediately looked at his hands, touched his face, to find it normal again. No scales. Bennet touched his chest and found it unharmed too. No bullets.

They all sat up and looked over at Roth, who looked more than just a little disturbed by that development his plan had taken. It obviously had never happened before that someone escaped his nightmares. Now the great mind controller shook his head, in disbelieve, in denial. That was impossible. Things like that didn´t happen. Not to him.

"Face it, Freddy." Shawn cried. "The nightmare´s over."

"Who allowed you to call me that?" Roth shouted. "No one called me that since I was a kid. I´m not Freddy anymore. I´m Frederic Roth. The most powerful mind on this planet."

"Well, obviously not as powerful as you thought." Shawn replied and chuckled, demonstratively shaking his head. "We came out of your nightmares, two times already."

"Doesn´t matter." Roth said. "I´ll just put you back in another one. Separately this time. And this time you won´t even remember your name when I´m done with you."

He took one single step forward, ready to do what he just predicted, but in this moment his expression of rage changed, to confusion. He stopped, frowning, listening for something no one else could hear. His eyes switched back and forth for a moment. And then he stared up in the air, in pure shock. His eyes were big and round when his mouth dropped open, forming a silent O.

"Marilyn?" he asked, his voice thick from disbelieve and fear.

For another moment nothing else happened. Then he tensed all the sudden, as if something had just hit him. His should have been victims stood around him and watched how the tension slowly left his body, more and more, until his legs gave in and he just collapsed, down to the ground.

After that everything was just quiet. None of them dared to say a word, almost as if they were afraid to wake up Roth or the strange and unseen force that had just defeated him with only so much as a simple thought. The only sound around them was the steady ticking of the clock on the wall, that used to tell the workers when their shift was over for the day.


	18. Epilogue

**Epilogue **

Sylar kept his eyes fixed on this one tiny point. The one red spot where the flesh was torn open, the blood oozing out at each movement he made with his fingers. Even though his fingers didn´t even touch. But he´d never needed to touch to make the blood run. He turned his fingers a little more and a groan of pain followed his movement. Sylar felt his heart speeding up. It had been a while ago since he´d done something like this. He was excited. But he was also careful. The trick was not to cause too much pressure. Just enough to make it move.

More blood came spilling out of the wound and another cry of pain followed. Louder this time. Sylar bowed his fingers to finish it with one last, quick turn. And then it was over. The bullet flipped out of the wound and fell down, landing on the concrete floor with a unremarkable clattering sound.

"All right, that´s it." Peter commented and pressed some cloth on the wound.

Mohinder was panting, his hands clinging around the edge of the table he sat on. Peter lifted the cloth one more time to have a look at the wound and then decided: "You should see to some penicillin to keep it from infecting. So far it´s only torn fabric. I don´t need to tell you that you strained the arm too much after the shot."

"Indeed, you don´t need to tell me." was Mohinder´s reply.

He let his head hang in exhaustion after this rather unorthodox operation while Peter bandaged his shoulder and put it in a sling. Sylar watched them closely. Once in a while Mohinder would look up and meet his gaze. When he did, he answered it with a glare, as if accepting a staredown contest. Still he lost it each time, when he had to close his eyes against the pain, Peter´s treatment caused him.

"Here you go." the young man said when he was done and patted the scientist´s good shoulder.

"Thanks, Peter." Mohinder brought out, accepting the bottle of water Peter handed him.

"Thank Sylar." the young nurse replied. "I wouldn´t have been able to get the bullet out without cutting you open. Not here at least."

He threw Sylar a glance and the murderer nodded at him, gratefully. Peter returned the nod.

"Excuse me." he then said and left the small room, returning to the production hall.

Mohinder took a deep sip of water, before he slipped off the table to follow him out.

"Thanks by the way." Sylar said, before the scientist was out of the door. "For catching me. You saved my life."

Mohinder glanced at him, considering how to react. "It was a mere instinct what I did." he then said, dismissing the whole affair.

"Still. You could have let me fall." Sylar insisted, not ready to let it go that easily. "Why did you do it?" he asked.

Mohinder corked one eyebrow at him, smirking. "Maybe I´m a nicer guy than you thought I´d be." he suggested a possibility.

Sylar chuckled. "So what does that make us?" he asked the scientist, before he could walk out.

Mohinder turned back to him, one more time, again considering his next words carefully.

"It makes us even." he said at last and threw Sylar the bottle.

Sylar flinched, surprised, but caught the bottle. After another moment, he smiled at the open door and followed Mohinder outside, into the hall.

"I never let a criminal run free my entire life." he heard the voice of detective Lassiter from ahead. "I won´t start with that now."

"No prison would be able to hold him." Noah Bennet told him. "Except for the Company."

"You´re not the Company anymore." Peter recalled. "And neither is my mother. Things have changed, Noah."

"So what do we do?" Lassiter demanded to know. "I won´t let this man run free. He´s a murderer."

"A murderer with various abilities." Noah reminded, once again. "Please, detective, I understand your point, but let us handle this."

"And how do you want to handle this, Noah?" Peter asked him. "Until the Company is rearranged, there is no place where you could lock him up."

"I´ll find a way." Noah promised.

"Which way? Drugging him and putting him in a cell like a human vegetable?"

"Oh, god. That´s awful." Juliet groaned and Shawn and Gus looked equally uncertain about that idea.

"We can´t just let him go." Bennet defended this option. "He´s too dangerous."

"He tried to change once." Peter recalled.

"And he changed back again." Noah recalled of his own. "He killed again. He´s a murderer and he´ll always be one."

"But I saved your daughter." Sylar spoke up, reaching the gathering. "And you too, by the way. You´re welcome."

Noah only looked at him, not giving a response. Sylar noticed that Lassiter had put a hand on his holster. Everybody but Peter looked at him as if they expected him to attack them all, any minute. Even Juliet seemed unsure what to expect. And weren´t they right? He would be able to kill them all within only a few minutes … if he wanted.

"Listen." Peter broke the silence, at last. "How about finding a middle way? You don´t wanna risk it to let him go. Okay. Put him on probation then. Under your watch."

Noah immediately shook his head. "I can´t risk that." he said.

"You are aware of the fact that I could walk out of here and vanish at any time?" Sylar chipped in. "That I´m still here should prove something to you."

"What? That you are arrogant and megalomaniac?"

Sylar only chuckled at this.

"Think about it, Noah." Peter went on. "You´d be in charge. Would you rather have him run off without anyone to watch him?"

Bennet looked at Sylar musing. He was still hesitant, but at least Peter´s arguments had gotten through to him. Sylar smiled, spreading his arms.

"What do you say, Noah?" he asked. "Ready to team up again?"

Bennet´s glance became a glare. "I already have a partner." he told him.

Sylar threw a glance at Lauren, and shrugged.

Bennet looked from him to Mohinder. "How about you, doc?" he asked him, out of the blue.

"Me?" the scientist cried, brows raised. "Oh, no. I don´t intent to work for anyone here. Or the Company."

"Then what do you plan to do?" Peter wanted to know.

"I´ll go back to do what I always did." Mohinder explained with a tiny shrug of his good shoulder. "Trying to find the ones with abilities. To help them understand what they can and offer help if needed. That seems to be what I´m destined to do." he shook his head, for a moment, as if to chase away a troubling thought. "Too many of them have no idea how dangerous they can be to themselves and their loved ones." He went on and pointed at Sylar. "And I surely can´t take him with me when doing this."

"Yes, you could." Sylar immediately assured him. "I could help you. Convince them and teach them." "You can´t truly believe that I´ll fall for that trick a second time." Mohinder exclaimed and had to laugh.

"This time it´s not a trick." Sylar promised him. "Think about it. I know how things work. I could help them to understand how to use their abilities in a save way."

"And kill them after you had enough fun with them?"

"I can´t guarantee that the hunger won´t tempt me." Sylar admitted earnest. "I´m not gonna lie about that. But I´ll try. You could help me fight it … by reminding me. And if you should ever fail, you´ll always have this." he added and took something out of his pocket. It was the remote, he´d crashed at the wall of the diner. "I fixed it." he explained. "If I should ever get out of control … you can use it."

He offered it to the scientist who looked at the small device in utter disbelieve. Eventually he took it from him, maybe only to have it before the killer could change his mind again.

"You know that I will." he said, as if to ask Sylar if he was absolutely sure. "That I´d even kill you with that if I had to."

"I know." was all Sylar said. "That´s why I´m giving it to you." Having said this, he smiled. "What do you say? Ready to fight the monster?"

Mohinder hesitated but eventually grabbed the remote tighter. There was no smile on his face when he answered: "And to slay it … if necessary."

"Great!" Sylar cheered. "Where do we go first?"

Mohinder groaned, closing his eyes for a moment, probably asking himself why he agreed to this insanity in the first place. Sylar still smiled. Not even Noah´s warning glare could irritate him.

"I´ll be watching you." Bennet told him.

"Yeah, me too." Lassiter agreed and immediately got some uncertain glances.

"That … will be quite difficult for you, detective." Peter said. "People with abilities are all around the globe."

Lassiter made a face of pure disbelieve. "Are you kidding?" he cried and when Gus nodded at him with a face as if he knew everything there was to know about the subject, he frowned, more confused than ever.

"If he makes any trouble …" Bennet was talking to Mohinder. "You know how to reach me."

The scientist nodded, completely serious. "I know."

Peter turned to Lassiter with a face as serious as Mohinder´s. "It´s really the best that way, detective." he assured him and Lassiter, knowing that he probably had no other choice anyway, accepted it – reluctantly and hating it like hell.

Peter gave him a nod, before turning around, to Sylar.

"Thanks, Peter." the killer said and when the younger man gave him his hand, he pulled him in for a hug instead. This time Peter agreed with a smile, padding Sylar´s back. When they parted again they nodded at each other.

"Good luck." Peter said. "I need to go back to Claire and my mother. They´ll need help to go back to their normal lives. We all do."

Sylar and Mohinder both nodded in agreement.

"Good luck." Mohinder said. "To all of us."

Peter mirrored their nods, gratefully. Then after a last exchanged glance with Sylar, he turned around and left.

"What about Roth?" Shawn asked when he remembered the still unconscious man. They´d cuffed him but he didn´t look as if he´d come around again, any time soon.

"We´ll put him in a mental hospital." Bennet explained. "The official diagnosis will be complete lethargy. I´ll have an eye on him too. If anything should change in his condition, we´ll know it."

"I can´t think of any change though." Shawn said. "The way Marilyn talked about her brother, I don´t think she´ll ever allow him to get out again."

"What about her?" Juliet asked. "What do you think? Is she still out there?"

Shawn looked at Jules but couldn´t give any answer. No matter what he´d say, he would always feel like an idiot for the try to guess it in the first place.

"She said, she didn´t know it herself." was all he dared to say as an explanation.

"Marilyn was dead long before all this started." Bennet agreed.

"Am I the only one who´s creeped out by the fact that a ghost came to our rescue?" Gus asked.

"She wasn´t a ghost, Gus." Shawn argued. "More like a … spirit."

"And where´s the difference?"

"I don´t know. I just know that she wasn´t some slimy glowing thing that is losing ectoplasm when it goes through a wall."

"I didn´t say anything about slimy, Shawn." Gus cried.

"But you implied it."

"No, I didn´t."

Next to them, Juliet rolled her eyes at the banter and Lassiter, loosing his patience, hissed at them: "Would you just stop that!"

A chuckle made them all turn their heads. "Oh, man." Sylar shook his head laughing. "I´m really gonna miss you guys. It´s really a shame that I have to say goodbye."

"Oh, you don´t have to." Lassiter said. "Just let me cuff you and come freely, then you can have a nice little cell in the Santa Barbara prison."

Again Sylar smiled. "I always knew you had humor, Lassie-face." he said and promptly got a dark glare from Lassiter.

"Don´t you ever call me that." he growled at him. "And don´t make the mistake to believe that I wouldn´t find you if you pull off something new. Because I will."

"I sure hope you do." was Sylar´s answer. "Or who knows. Maybe I´ll pay _you_ a visit once in a while."

"I´ll be here." Lassiter promised with a snarling grin and for a moment, the two of them were busy with an intense staredown, in which Sylar definitely had more fun than Lassiter.

"Seriously, dude." Shawn spoke, starting to feel uncomfortable. "You need to stop doing this."

"He started it." Lassiter cried, defensively.

"I was _talking_ to him." Shawn cried back.

Lassiter halted, raising a brow, embarrassed.

"Sylar." Mohinder called and he actually sounded like an angry mother who called her delayed son to finally come in for diner.

"Coming." the killer answered, smiling at them all, one last time. His eyes rested on Juliet for one more minute. "Who knows." he said, looking deeply into her eyes. "Maybe we´ll see each other again after all. Sometime in the future."

At last he turned around to follow Mohinder out. After only a few steps he turned back around one last time.

"And by the way, detective." he said, looking at Lassiter. "I wasn´t kidding earlier, when I announced a visit. I always come back for my friends." He touched his forehead with one finger and smiling saluted them goodbye. "See you soon, friends."

With that he just turned around and walked away.

* * *

><p><strong>There you go. End of the second story. I hope you liked it. If so, don´t go too far away. The next thing is already on the way. Just around the next corner. Should be up in a few days. Hope to see you soon. <strong>

**And thanks for reading.**


	19. Author's Note

**Author´s Note**

All right. Before I start this, one more time: If you haven´t read the story yet, don´t make the mistake to spoil it for yourself. Go back and read it first.

Okay, so now I can start. If you read the Author´s Note of the first story, you might know that I didn´t know the show Heroes before I wrote "Identity". Well, that has changed. I use to go wild when I do research and in this case doing research meant watching the whole show almost back to back to back. So yeah, I know the show now. But if you read the story, you might have guessed that already.

Since I wrote Sylar as the typical killer in my first story, I had to think about a way to work that version into the canon of the show Heroes, where, we all know that, Sylar changed back to the good side in the end. So how to explain that he was back in the killing business when he had already had his happy end? Easy. I just made up that it didn´t work out the way Claire had hoped when she jumped off that ferris wheel and that Sylar was again left behind and chased by everybody.

Following his nature and his personality, he would run and fall back into his old habits. I guess that´s not too hard to imagine. Everybody would be pissed if you saved the world and then they come to arrest you and kick your ass for what you did. If they want me to be a criminal, I´ll give them what they want, he would think. At least that´s what I imagine.

Anyway. Back to this story. What I had in mind when I started, was some kind of mysterious enemy. That not Sylar was the enemy (not the most dangerous one at least) but someone else. I also wanted him to get away from the Company with Mohinder´s help and that the two of them would be forced to work together.

The idea to let Sylar and Shawn be connected in their dreams was more like an intuitive thing. I knew I wanted some outside force to be the reason for that, but when I started to write the story, I didn´t know what kind of force that would be. Only that it was supposed to be an antiforce to this mysterious enemy. Like a guardian angel or something. But what it would be exactly, I didn´t know back then. I just trusted the story and went along as it all happened.

What I did know was, that Shawn and Sylar were supposed to learn to trust each other throughout these dreams. Sort of. They should see the memories of the other and understand that they had a lot in common. That´s why I let their memories switch during these dreams. For better understanding what I did with that, I´d like to recall them briefly:

The first dream after Sylar was already escaped: An episode Psych watchers will recognize. Shawn as a teen gets arrested by his dad for stealing a car. I went along with the well known storyline of that, but I already had Sylar´s personality in mind while writing that. So it was Sylar who dreamed that dream, not Shawn. He was in his position and somehow in his head too but he was still Sylar. I tried to underline that a little by mentioning that the dream-Shawn knew how to provoke his father and that he could hear it ticking behind his forehead. When Henry started to accuse him of being a disappointment, he attacked him and then the dream became a different version of how Sylar´s mom died. Over the struggle with the scissors.

The transitions between dream and waking up was a lot of fun to write. I hoped to confuse people with that, so you guys wouldn´t know for sure what was real and what was a dream. But essentially Shawn dreamed what Sylar experienced and sometimes his dreams mixed with memories of Sylar. Same goes for what Sylar dreamed of Shawn.

The second dream that started with one of Shawn´s memories, was also from an episode of Psych. Shawn talked to his mother about his relationship with his dad. I changed the end of it again and mixed it with Sylar´s memory of the talk he had with his mother, just before she died. After that I let Shawn wake up (still in the dream) in Dr. Manny´s office, to reflect these dreams. I just wanted to let Shawn have a therapy session of some sorts even if it was only in a dream. The second gain we all had from that scene, was another insight Sylar got on our favorite psychic. And vice versa, Shawn would see another part of Sylar´s way to Santa Barbara, before they would actually meet again.

So much for the more confusing dream sequences. I´ll get back to the others along the way.

About the case Shawn and the others were working: I wanted this case to be related to what was going on and to Mohinder´s and Sylar´s mission. But I didn´t want you guys to know that from the start, so I disguised it. My goal was it to let them work the case but let the case seem minor and unimportant for the real story. In case this detail slipped your mind, the two dead people were Sasha, Mohinder´s assistant (he sent her out to prepare the ground for him, so they could get the virus into the Company´s system) and Juri Takolov, who worked for the Company. Maria Takolov, his wife, was also working for the Company. She killed her husband and Sasha to prevent this infiltration.

But with all the other things happening around them, the case became minor while the story developed. At least it seemed so for them – and you readers I hope.

The boy that approached Shawn and Gus in San Francisco was a member of Claire´s community. His ability is to tell if someone has an ability just by touching him. Claire and her friends had known about what the Company did and they tried to warn Shawn. As we saw, they came a little too late and he got shot by two hitmen. When Lassiter arrested the two culprits, two people in police uniform took them out and he was just to distracted with the dying Shawn to realize that these two cops were no cops, but Noah Bennet and Lauren Gilmore in disguise. Two people he would learn to know later on.

After Shawn died in the hospital, I knew that Claire´s blood was the only way to bring him back to life. I considered to let her get in there herself but then I figured that this wouldn´t work so well. And since Peter is a nurse, there was no question of who would do it instead. And that´s how Peter came into my story. That was something totally random, that I didn´t plan. He just showed up and then I had to run with that and somehow work him into the rest of the story. Thanks again for the extra work Pete. But that goes for Claire as well, when I´m honest. No idea how she made her way into the story, for more than just a reference I mean. All I want to say is: nothing of this was planned.

Well from that point on it was totally about following the characters. Of course they would arrest Peter after what happened in the hospital and of course they would question him. It´s true, the way Lassiter asked him, he would have never said anything. It was the way Shawn asked the same question in a totally different way, that made Peter tell him what he knew. I for myself liked the transition between Shawn´s last line to Peter and Henry´s first line. That Shawn promises Peter not to call him crazy and the first thing Henry has to say is: "This guy is totally crazy." I think that´s what he would say.

I´m also quite proud of the fact that I managed it to work in this last scene of Claire jumping off the ferris wheel. It was always the image of Heroes to have her looking into the camera after such a jump and saying those lines, while her wounds are healing. I still admire the writers of Heroes for ending the show with that image, the one thing that we all knew almost from the start, coming full circle with everything in the end. That´s just some great stuff.

The following episode between Sylar and Mohinder was something special to me. There they got into their first real and open fistfight and stopped pretending that everything was fine. I wanted them to fight to the blood and then as soon as the Company men arrived, they would have to switch back into being partners again. Almost without any transition. And I think it worked. I for myself liked that part of their trip.

By the way: that I let them be on a road trip to Santa Barbara was no try to relive that famous road trip from the first season. That just happened, just like so many other things. I knew they would have to cross a certain distance to get from New York to Santa Barbara but I lengthened their trip as the story went.

When they were at the gas station, I almost let them meet up with Shawn and Gus in San Francisco. But then I decided to stretch it a little more and made it a gas station near Chicago and not near San Francisco.

I figured that everybody would need a little more time to come to terms with what was going on, and especially these two guys, who would definitely need some more time to work out their differences. They were supposed to work together after all. So I delayed their arrival in Santa Barbara a little and it became a longer road trip than planned. But it was fun to write that. It´s always fun to write these two together. Not to indicate anything …

I also wanted to resurrect Mohinder´s transformation from season three, when he brought that creepy mutation on himself. In order to let him understand Sylar a little better, I had to let him go through that nightmare again. Who´d be better to lure out that monster in Mohinder than Sylar?

After I finally brought all the elements together that already were in Santa Barbara (Noah, Peter, Claire and all the others) I figured that the time was up to let Shawn and Sylar meet again for real. The dream Shawn had, started as a part of reality. Sylar and Mohinder reaching Takolov´s house. When Shawn woke up, Sylar was already there in his apartment.

By then I had figured out which force it should be, that was behind the dreams. But for Shawn and the others it would need some more time to get an answer. First they had a mission to accomplish. And of course the first try would fail. I needed a reason for them all to be in there and a rescue mission was the perfect scenario for that.

So I sent them all in there and made them separate. Roth, our villain in this story, knew that they would come all along and let them get in, so he could take them down one by one. The illusions he created for them, were supposed to put everybody through his biggest nightmare. For Mohinder this was to mutate again into this monster he´d almost become once. For Claire it was to be betrayed by her father and see all her friends die. Gus and Juliet got trapped in an endless labyrinth of corridors and Lassiter had to watch Shawn die without being able to do something about it.

But luckily for our favorite psychic, there was still this guardian angel that had caused him so many weird dreams.

I came up with someone that was able to manipulate dreams, with the goal to let Shawn and the others understand how they could defeat Roth. That someone like him could only be defeated by a strong alliance of all their minds. How else to defeat someone who can let you see whatever he wants? So I let Marylin tell them to concentrate and to support each other against Roth´s illusions. And as you all saw, it worked. In the end she did the same thing to him that he did to them. She put him in a prison he could never escape from. His own mind.

About the last chapter, I was so happy that some people acknowledged how Mohinder went a little badass in there. That was one of the things I wanted to make happen, no matter how. I mean seriously. I know he´s usually the nice guy, the scientist and all that, but seriously. He has this superstrength, then he is ought to use it once in a while, dammit. And that line he said to the Company guy, was inspired from a youtube video. It´s called heroes nonsense. In the first three seconds they made it look as if he was really saying that. It´s not his voice but it just fits so perfectly to his lip movements that I just had to use that. The rest of the video is truly just nonsense but those first three seconds totally made my day. So yeah. Had to do it. My inner child wanted to play and I let it.

After Roth was defeated (I hope you all got the reference his first name was: Freddy?) all that was left to do, was to decide what to do about Sylar. I was pretty satisfied with my solution, especially since it promised more Sylar Mohinder storyline for the next story. So many things that I can play with. And enough for you guys to look forward to. So if you want to know how it will go on, come back for the next story.

Hope to see you then.

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><p><strong>Leave a review if you like. I appreciate all kinds of constructive criticism.<strong>

**And thanks for reading.**


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